Egoistic
by darkstream0
Summary: Another MCU self insert. An avid Avengers fan gets tossed into the MCU. But unfortunately for him he never got to meet his favourite characters because the one who sent him here was a total dick. An Ego SI.
1. Setting up nicely

I was relaxing at my home in my favourite chair. A glass of pineapple juice was within my reach. I took a sip of it and relaxed into my chair. I had some time to kill before I had to go to my office. So I took my phone and surfed the net. That is when I saw there was a new trailer of the Avengers Endgame. That was my favourite movie you know. After watching the trailer I sat back. That was mind-blowing. I couldn't wait for the movie to be released. The marvel movies changed my life altogether. Iron man inspired me to pursue an Engineering degree.

Still, it was very difficult for me to watch most of the heroes turning to dust in Infinity war. It was a huge cliff-hanger at the end of that movie. Suddenly I had a pain in the heart that I could not bear. I tried to call for help but all that came from my mouth was a gurgled sound as blood began to pour out from my mouth. Oh man, I am having a heart attack. With that thought, everything faded to black.

The next time I regained my conscious I was in a white world. It was stark white not even a speck of dust. I am not a religious person but the situation I am in is beyond my understanding. I started to doubt myself. Maybe I am not dead. Maybe I am just dreaming.

"Stephen my son, you are not dreaming. You are unfortunately dead." said a voice

"What….Who is there? Show yourself." I screamed panicked

"I do not have a form my child." the voice said

"Are you god?" he asked tentatively

"In a sense….. I am a primordial, my child. I travel throughout the multiverse watching life grow anew while I stay eternal." the voice said

"The multiverse theory is true." he asked

"Yes indeed. There are many worlds within worlds. Reality within reality. An endless space of multiple universes, never-ending, infinite." the voice said

"What do you want with me." he asked tentatively

"From time to time I travel to different worlds and select a soul that takes my fancy. Have you read fan fiction stories." the voice asked excitedly

"Uhh, yes" Stephen answered confused

"Well, then you are familiar with the self-insert stories are you not. You, humans, are a crafty bunch. So many ideas and imaginations. Thanks to your wonderful race beings like me can have so much entertainment. Anyways what I was coming to say was that you have been selected for a unique opportunity. You have the proud privilege of being inserted into a fictional universe." the voice said happily

"What, but I don't want to do that." he said

"Oh then what do you want to do now that you are dead." the voice asked confused

"Mmm, I don't know." he answered truthfully

"Well, then I see no problem. Besides, you will enjoy where I am sending you. "The voice said eagerly

"Where are you sending me" he asked

"To your favourite universe, Stephen. The Marvel Cinematic Universe." the voice said grandly

"The MCU? You can do that." he asked excitedly

"Oh yes. Now I will give you some knowledge about yourself as well as all that you need for the challenges that you will face soon.' the voice said

"Now wait just a moment. I have not agreed to anything." he said hotly

"Oh come on. I know you are basically jumping up and down in joy in your mind." the annoying voice said

"Fine, you got me. Besides I have nothing to do now that I am dead. So who am I. Tony stark, Thor, Spiderman are my most favourites." he said eagerly

"There are many such self inserts my dear Stephen. Let's do something different this time." the voice said

"Is it Loki." he asked

"Sorry, he is already booked. No, you will find out soon enough. Now be careful. I am giving you a lifetime opportunity here. So don't waste it away by doing silly things. Now enjoy the ride." the voice said

Then the white world cracked and shattered like glass. A tear in space formed in front of him and sucked into it. Stephen felt as if he was being squeezed through a tube. He lost all sense of what was happening around him.

Finally, he regained his bearings. He felt really cold and weird. He tried to raise his hands but there was no feeling. He couldn't even see anything. That's when a wave of memories assaulted his mind. When those memories were processed he finally realized where he was, or rather who he was. He concentrated and with a surge of light he formed a humanoid body in the space he was floating aimlessly. He looked down and saw his true form, a white-bluish coloured gigantic brain floating in space.

He was reborn as Ego the dad of Peter Quill of the Guardians of the galaxy. He couldn't believe it. He was a freaking Celestial, a race of beings that pre-dates the formation of Marvel Universe. This was all good and well but the immediate problem was he was floating in space. There was no meaning to this lonely existence. He didn't know how long he stayed there. Time had no meaning and he worked the full time to use his powers to propel himself.

But, as time passed more and more of his powers surfaced. Just like Ego said in the movies his mind began to expand and his powers were beginning to be refined. With considerable effort, he began to manipulate the molecules around him and constructed a sphere around the brain. He coated the sphere with thick metal plates to increase the armour. With this done he created a rudimentary propulsion system and began to navigate the space.

But no matter where he searched he could not find any life forms. To distract himself from falling prey to depression he studiously experimented with his powers. With rigorous practice, he was finally able to master molecular manipulation.

The very next thing that he did was to master his power over light. This was more complex than he thought it would be. Because the light that he had was not just some mere light. It was more like collective chords that could absorb or transfer energy. So he decided to test the limits of his power on a star. If Thor could withstand the power of a Neutron star then as a Celestial he can go beyond that.

On his quest to find the life he found a lone star with no planets near it. He extended his light chords and sends them towards the star. The first many attempts were a failure as its structure lost its integrity once it passed a certain distance. But he still tried again and again. After each attempt, he was able to push the distance further and further. Finally, after so many attempts, he was able to project the chords to the star. Then with a thought, he began to absorb the energy from the star. He began to map the material composition of the star and began replicating them into his own spherical cocoon. The precious metals that formed in the star were now available to him now. He stopped feeding off the energy from the star and began his journey anew.

Again the endless space bored him to death. But with the materials collected from the star, he began to form a space ship around himself and used this ship powered by his energy to travel the universe. This allowed him to cover vast distances faster. After a long time of travel, he came across a sight that filled him with joy. A ship jumped into his location.

He studied the ships design and recognized it from the movie Thor the Dark World. A ship of Dark Elves could be seen in front of him. He immediately propelled his ship towards them. The black ship open fired upon him but no damage could be done upon his person. He launched his light chords upon the enemy ship and brought it under his command. He sucked in the power of the ship and made it a floating construct in space.

He formed himself inside the ship in a humanoid form. The dark elves rushed in with their guns and began firing red energy blasts. But all of it passed harmlessly through his stopped firing and looked at each other confused.

"My turn." he said.

With a snap of his fingers, his light spread across the ship spearing into every single Dark Elves in an instant. They all fell dead on the floor. He collected all their bodies and dumped them into space. He landed his brain into the ship and after that, he powered up the systems of the ship. With the ability of the ship to access jump points he set the coordinates of Earth from the data bank of the ship. The dark elves called the Earth as Midgard and from the basic information in the system it was a backwater planet with no technological advancements. Then there was a whole lot of information regarding Asgard. The dark elves are now at war with Asgard. This made him realize that he was so far back in time as Odin himself was not even king of Asgard.

That was a little disappointing as he would virtually sentence himself to some very boring years on Earth. But his yearning for his home planet could not be denied. So he engaged the jump point and entered near a point in space near Earth. With ease, his ship descended down towards the European continent. He chose the future Russia as his landing ground.

Once ship landed he stepped out and set his feet on Earth and breathed in the fresh air. Around him, birds chirped and the sound of streams flowing could be heard. Taking a deep breath he launched himself to the sky and flew around with a scream of joy. He observed the many mountains that littered across the landscape, the birds that flew in the sky, the animals that were peacefully sleeping and playing with each other. He enjoyed all of it for some time but returned back to the ship and landed upon it.

He has centuries to spend now. Until the human race is a little developed he will not be interfering with them. So he cloaked his ship and took his brain and began to dig into the Earth. He will be creating a sanctuary for all his works that he was about to do and to do some very interesting things to this land.

He placed his brain down deep into the Earth. Then with a powerful surge, he began to exert his influence across the land. A powerful wave of power swept along the land. Every trees, plants and even grass came under his influence. He left out the humans and animals from this process. He began to create natural barriers like huge mountains and rocks around his position for some safety measures. Forests with thick trees began to grow around him under his influence. There was virtually no limit to his power as anything and everything came under his control. Now that he was connected with the world he could easily influence and reshape it to his designs.

But all these can be done at a later time. Now he will be going to a long sleep. His integration into this planet must be completed and this is the best way to do that. After a few hundred years he will wake up again. Then the world will be shaped in his desire so until then Good night Earth.

**Author's **Note:** What do you guys think about this story. Any advice, ideas or criticism will be appreciated. I am a little hesitant in continuing this story as it requires several historical figures and incidents of Russia. So, please help through your reviews. Thank you.**


	2. Forming a kingdom

Alexey stopped the horse that he rode near a tree. Everywhere around him was a dense forest. No one has ever travelled to these thick forests that spread across Kazan. These lands were said to be holy ground. It is said that an angel has exiled himself here from the heavens. He came to this place to seek the aid of the Angel.

His homeland has been invaded by the barbarian Mongols. The village that he lived in was burned and looted and their people taken as slaves or killed. Their women raped and murdered. It was hell. He was a Christian. He thought hell only existed under the earth where the wicked go but now he knows better. Hell exists on earth as well. He had a sweet sister living with him in the farmlands that he worked. Their parents were long dead but he took care of his sister with great love. If he cannot find the Angel then his sister's and that of his people's life will be doomed. He cried himself to sleep as he has been searching for the Angel across this dangerous land but so far he could not find any clues about the angel. He was so depressed and the days of travel finally caught up to him and he fell asleep.

Stephen slowly regained his bearings. His mind was afresh and rejuvenated from the long sleep he took. With a strong push, he was able to split the earth upon which he was buried. He began to form his body into the surface of the earth. Finally, he breathed fresh air after centuries again. He spread his power around and felt the world around him. He came to an abrupt halt when he sensed a human presence near his position. With a thought, he flew towards the place where he felt the human presence.

Alexey woke up when the ground rumbled. He quickly stood up frightened. His horse reared up in fright and neighed. He tried to calm his horse. Slowly the rumbling stopped and his horse calmed down. He was about to sit down but he saw a light streak across the sky. That strange light came towards him and struck at the ground before him. Alexey fell back into the ground due to the shockwave. When the dust cleared he saw the Angel that he seeks. Composed of pure light the angel shined brightly and spread light around the darkened forest. He fell to his knees and cried tears of joy. No matter how hard he tried he could not speak anything to the angel.

Stephen stepped towards the crying human with a frown. He touched the human's forehead and channelled a silver of his power. Immediately he was assaulted by the memories of Alexey. He absorbed his memories and then released his hold on Alexey. Well, he awoke at a time when the various princes of Russia banded together to fight the invading Mongols. They failed horribly because of the disunity among them and the people of these lands are paying the price. Another important thing he observed was somehow the people of Russia considered his resting place a holy ground and considered him an angel. Maybe some humans might have seen him flying in the sky when he first came here and the tale may have propagated itself. Luckily he was not called a god that is a relief. The Mongol invasion has given him a very good opportunity. He looked upon Alexey.

"Rise Alexey….You need not cry any longer. I can feel your pain and desperation. I will indeed help you." Stephen promised

"Oh thank you, thank you" Alexey grovelled at his feet

"Rise Alexey…. You may call me Stephen. Now come, let's go and save your people." he said

With that said, Stephen took hold of Alexey and flew to the sky in a blue streak.

In order to keep up appearances, Stephen manipulated the molecules around him and formed a set of Silver white wings upon his shoulder blades. Then he formed silver armour around his body and silver coloured metallic boots on his legs to complete the look.

They circled the village of Kazan in the sky gaining the attention of the villagers. With a mighty flap of his wings, Stephen touched down on the ground and set Alexey on his feet. The people stood rooted to their spot with disbelief in their eyes. Suddenly with a war cry, the Mongol barbarians came at Stephen with their swords and axes. The villages screamed in fear and ran for their life. Alexey made to stand in front of him but he stopped him.

Stephen made a show of raising his left hand to the heavens. A white light formed in his hand which became a bow. He pulled the string and an arrow made of light formed on the bow and then released it upon the Mongols. The single arrow split into a hundred arrows and began raining death upon them. All the Mongols fell dead in an instant. There was an eerie silence in the village which was broken by the clapping and whooping of the villagers. Many elderly began to openly cry while the children gathered around Stephen and looked at him in awe and wonder.

A mother rushed in with her child who was bleeding from her head. The child was unconscious from the blood loss due to her injury. The mother fell to her knees in front of Stephen and begged.

"Please holy one. Save her. Please have mercy. Take my life in return, but please save her." the mother begged

"I am not the giver of life my child. There is no need for you to sacrifice your life. But I will heal her nonetheless." Stephen said

He gathered the light into his hand and touched the child on her forehead. He manipulated the molecules of the body and healed any injury from inside out.

Before the eyes of the villagers, the wound closed itself and soon the child woke up as if from sleep. The women cried in joy and tried to kiss the boots of Stephen. But he stopped her and made her rise and blessed her as he healed all her injuries as well. She said thanks repeatedly and kissed her child over and over in happiness and love.

All the villagers kneeled one by one around him.

"Please, bless us with the honour of knowing your name holy one so that we and our children and the children after them will never forget your name." one of the villagers asked

"You may call me Stephen." he responded

"It is customary for our people to welcome you and give you food and shelter holy one. But we have nothing with us. All have been destroyed and taken by the invading Mongols. All our crops stolen, farmlands and forests burned. We seek your forgiveness holy one." Alexey said

"Rise people of Kazan. There is nothing to forgive. Your village is devastated by the attack of these barbarians that do not know Gods grace. They will be dealt with in time but first, let me heal the land." Stephen said

He raised his hand and summoned the light and condensed it into a ball and struck the ground with it. The light began to spread across the land regrowing the trees in an instant. New fruits began to form in the trees, farmlands became rejuvenated and the crops were regrown. The forests became a lush green. The ground was filled with finely cut grass. Homes that were destroyed were built anew and that too with smooth stones. A utopia was created in the village. The people looked around in wonder and prayed to God reverently.

"I know many have lost their loved ones and the pain is afresh. But after death know that the innocent graces the halls of God. There they are cleansed of all pain. There they will be given the love of God. The living must continue to live on. You must honour their lives and live your life in harmony. There will be times when your strength and courage will be tested by the savages like the Mongols. But remember we should not fight out of hatred but to liberate your brothers and sisters. I myself will lead an army across these lands and liberate them all from the Mongol savages. Like in the ancient times the forces of light will band together to eradicate the darkness that envelops the world. Now, who is with me to fight side by side in the army of light." Stephen roared

"We are! We are! We are!" the crowd roared

The next few days, Stephen began forming weapons, armours and shields for his army. Then supplies were secured and new horse-drawn carts were used to transport the supplies. Some raiding Mongols came to attack the village but they were all killed quickly. With enough troops amassed they began to march to other villages liberating them one by one.

No mercy was shown to the Mongols as they were systematically executed, sparing none. No prisoners were the army's motto. Within a month Saratov, Greenberg, Chelyabinsk, Penza, Voronezh, Volgograd got liberated from the Mongol invasion. The people of these lands joined the newly named army of light. The people joined in droves even women chose to fight. Many did this to seek the blessings of an angel. Some others thought this as a crusade against the Mongols.

Finally, the army numbered more than twenty-five thousand and completely surrounded Moscow. With all supplies cut off to Moscow the fighting ability of the Mongols were thoroughly lost. They were starved but so did the people of Moscow. So Stephen did the only thing that would liberate Moscow safely. He used his powers and spread it across the land. His light took hold of every living being in Moscow. He then connected his mind to their mind and weeded out the Mongols. Then he drained their life force within minutes.

With Moscow secured the heart of Russia has fallen back to the people. The army of light marched into Moscow unopposed. There in Moscow before the assembled army and people of Russia Stephen used his powers to construct a fortress. He built a Victorian-era style castle in Moscow. The people bowed at the miracle produced in front of their eyes.

Stephen walked inside the castle and many followed him into the castle. He climbed the raised platform and addressed the crowd that entered after him.

"This invasion happened because of the disunity among the people. Together we are strong but divided we are vulnerable. This is why I am abolishing all the different prices of Russia and joining the combined lands into one single kingdom. The Kingdom of Russia will have one people, one god and one ruler. I will personally select the king of Russia and he and his family will rule from here." Stephen said as he raised a silver-white throne upon the dais to the amazement of the people.

Stephen sat upon the throne and all the people bowed in reverence.

"Still we have much to do. Eastern parts of Russian kingdom are still under the control of Mongolian invaders. This cannot be tolerated any longer. The army that I formed will defeat these savages and rout them from this holy land. This army will be the one and single army in Russia under the control of the king. This is my command and my command is law." Stephen said strongly

"All hail Stephen the holy!! All hail Stephen the holy!!" the crowd chanted

A great feast was organized for everyone in honour of the victory as well as the formation of the Russian Kingdom. It was open to peasants, smiths, builders, soldiers, nobles, and priests. The many priests of the churches that were in Moscow came to see the angel of light. There was a confidential meeting between the priests and Stephen. After the meeting ended each and every priest returned to the throne room dazed and sombre. The fruits of that closed-door meeting will be felt across Russia in the future. The next day the army began their march to the eastern lands to liberate the rest of their brethren from the savages of Mongolia. The war of liberation and unification of Russia has begun.


	3. An empire forged

It was in 1223 the Mongol invasion started. With Stephen's interference, the western parts of Russia were liberated in 1226. In 1227 the Russian Kingdom came into existence and began the reunification of eastern lands into this newly unified kingdom. With the unified army fighting under the command of a Celestial the Mongolian invaders reeled back into their homeland after suffering defeat after defeat.

The war against the invaders reached the land of Perm in the year 1229. It was here the future of Russian kingdom became secured. After the battle that liberated Perm from Mongolian control, many people celebrated the victory. But war always causes losses on both sides. When Stephen entered a village with his loyal soldiers a small child fell in front of him when someone pushed the boy away. The little boy was a beggar who was asking for some food but the local merchant refused to give him anything. Stephen kneeled down to the boy's level.

"What is your name my child?" he asked

"Peter." the boy answered

"Where are your parents, Peter?" he asked

"Dead, my king." Peter said

"Would you like to travel with me?" he asked

"Yes, my king." Peter answered immediately

And thus when the history was written the name of Peter gained such importance. The people of Perm never thought that beggar boy would later become their history and future.

By the year 1240, the entire eastern province of Russia came under the rule of Stephen. But the liberation of these provinces alone was not enough to stop future incursions by the Mongols. So under the command of Stephen, the army of Russia invaded Mongolia. They pushed back the border and conquered lands that were more favourable to defend against the Mongols in the future.

With the borders secure and a separate border security force established Stephen returned to Moscow. The entire city welcomed him and his army with great cheers. A week-long celebrations were conducted in honour of the victory. In this feast, a great council was called which consisted of the many noble families of Russia as well as the many newly elevated Knightly houses by Stephen himself during his conquest.

"As we have ensured the safety of our people now is the time to secure the future of this kingdom. I cannot rule this kingdom much longer as I have a very specific job to do on Earth. This is why I have selected a successor for the throne of Russia." Stephen said

"Who is the successor holy one." Alexey asked

"Peter will be the next king of Russia. From his line, all the kings will come to rule the Russian kingdom. In the name of God, I bestow upon Peter the name that will bind the people of Russia as one. Peter of house Romanov will be my heir, your future king." Stephen proclaimed

Peter stood by his side as every noble and knight knelt and swore their oaths. Stephen created a crown and a flag with a silver crown at the centre and two silver wings sprouting from its back in a blue background. He put the crown atop Stephen and handed over the flag.

"This will be the flag of Russia. Under this banner, the people of this nation will unite into one." Stephen said

Peter Romanov sat upon the throne as people hailed him as the king. With the succession secured Stephen reformed the church of Russia. Before his arrival, the churches of Russia were subservient to Rome and the Pope. But after his meeting with many of the church representatives, he had made them realize the folly of following an Empire that is going to go up in smoke in the near future. The church of Russia became centralized and under the aegis of the crown.

Then another thing he did was structuring the power of the crown. He divided the Russian kingdom into thirty states. Each state will be given a governor selected by the king for a period of seven years. After this term, a new governor would be appointed. This was done to ensure the development of local governance in the future.

As a final act of goodwill Stephen created all the resources that Russia needed to be self-sufficient inside the kingdom with his molecular manipulation. Mountains filled with gold, silver, precious gems, diamonds, platinum, copper, iron, coal and even large oil fields for the future.

With all these improvements done Stephen began to concentrate on a project that he was very much interested in and it was something that could eliminate his single weakness. The brain of the Celestial was his greatest weakness. If anything happens to it he would die easily. So he had to add more security for it. So that is how he reached out into Wakanda through the earth. With his power over molecular manipulation, he was able to study the structure of Vibranium in its raw form. With his powers, he began to build a fortress inside the mountain ranges of Kozan using the Vibranium effectively shielding his brain. But still he was not completely satisfied and that is why he decided to go to Kamar taj.

With his powers, he was very easily able to locate the fortress in Nepal. He knocked upon the front door twice and waited. The people around him looked strangely at him for his appearance. The door opened

"She is expecting you, come in." a sorcerer said in Hindi

Luckily he had the presence of mind to absorb the language from a native once he came here so language was not a problem.

Stephen walked inside and the sorcerer led him towards a room.

"Welcome, it is not every day that we have a Celestial among us as a guest."The Ancient One said as she pointed to a chair opposite to hers

"I wouldn't have come. But circumstances have forced me to seek you out." he said

She poured two cups of tea and gave one to Stephen. He lightly sipped the tea.

"Good tea." he complimented

"Thank you Ego or would you prefer Stephen." she asked

"Stephen is fine." he said

"Hmm…..strange….. You may call me Alkasha. Anyways how can I help you." she asked

"We can help each other. From what I am feeling from you, you are tapping into the powers of Dormammu and dark dimension to stay immortal. I can give you the energy needed for your little extra boost and trust me it will not have any adverse effects on your body, mind or soul." he offered

"How do you know Dormammu." she asked in alarm

"I am a Celestial. I have been in existence long before this Universe even existed. I know many things." he answered vaguely

"You want something from me for you to give me your energy. What is it?" she asked

"Yes, what I want is knowledge Alkasha. The knowledge of drawing energy from different dimensions and casting spells with it. It is a fair deal is it not." he asked

"You can simply cut off the energy once you have learned from me. That would be a problem for me down the line in the future." she countered

"Well how about I store my energy in a container. You can draw as much as you like from it and I can create multiple containers as well. Will that be enough." he asked

"Show me." she said

He summoned his energy and formed a Vibranium bead in his hand. He then began to channel his life force into it. The metal absorbed as much as it could and when it reached its capacity he gave the bead to Alkasha.

She took the bead into her hand. With a snap of her fingers, she summoned a magic circle and placed the bead in it. She placed her palm above the circle and twisted counterclockwise. The Celestial energy began pouring into her body and began to replace the corrosive energy of Dormammu. The symbol of dark dimension on her forehead faded away and sun with light spreading around appeared on her forehead. She managed to contain the energy into her body.

"Thank you, Stephen. You have released me from his influence." Alkasha said

"Well, now you know my energy can substitute for the one that you were drawing from. I can create a thousand of those beads. One can last you a lifetime. So do we have an accord?" Stephen asked

"Yes, I will teach you to manipulate dimensional energy." she said

"When will we begin?" he asked

"Right now." she said as she stood up

Stephen went with her as she explained the underlying principles of drawing out the dimensional energy.

For the next few decades, he stayed in Kamar-Taj learning all about magic. Since Alkasha was essentially from a different time they could easily connect with each other. After many years of learning from her and becoming a master in the mystic arts himself, he began to devote his time in teaching the students of the temple. Occasionally he would visit Russia to see how his nation-building project was doing.

The Romanov family ruled supreme with no problems whatsoever. Peter Romanov became a great ruler. As someone who has felt true hunger in the streets, he began empowering the peasants with education and social reforms that tried to bridge the gap between nobility and peasants. He charged his children to continue his political works and till this day the people loved and respected the Romanovs. They considered them blessed as Russia never again knew hunger after the Romanovs became kings. The farmlands flourished even when their neighbours like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Finland all suffered crop failure. This made them a strong trade partner with these scattered principalities.

The Ukrainians were never a united kingdom in any form but a combination of some scattered principalities that were ruled by the Kingdom of Poland. They were once a strong kingdom but the Mongol invasion shattered them. They feared the Russian kingdom since its formation because of its huge size and Ukraine's geographical position. Ukraine, Belarus and Estonia blocked the access of Russia to Western Europe so if Russia had to have any trade influence there they had to conquer Ukraine first. But over time these fears became unfounded as the Romanov family proved to be wiser and not greedy. Russians had everything they ever needed in their homeland. Many times the Ukraine and Estonia had crop failure leading to mass starvations. Russia came to their help in those troubled times. Since then they had a fruitful relationship. People began to Migrate from Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia and Belarus to Russia in search of a better life and they were not disappointed.

Then came a shocking blow to Europe as a whole. The Eastern Roman Empire, known in the post-Roman West as the Byzantine Empire, collapsed when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks of Mehmed II in 1453. With the last remaining part of the Roman Empire fell the Ottomans had now access to central Europe.

Mehmed ll started his conquest in central Europe with Constantinople under his control. He very easily conquered Bulgaria and Macedonia. Without the Roman Empire, the European kingdoms had no unity and fell prey to the invading Ottomans. In 1459 Serbia fell to the Ottoman Empire after suffering a humiliating defeat. The Ukrainian princes panicked at this, as the Ottoman Empire could either go west or east. If the Ottomans choose west then they would be fighting the Hungarians but if they turn their sights east then their lands will suffer.

So the princes travelled to Moscow and met King Alexander Romanov in the palace of Light. There they were welcomed as special guests and they presented their problem to the Russian king. Three days of negotiation took place and at the end of the third day, the princes laid down their crown at Alexanders feet and returned to Ukraine with Alexander himself. There he was crowned as the king of Ukraine and thus Russian Empire was born on that day and Alexander Romanov became its first Tsar.

Contrary to the fears of Ukrainians the Ottoman Empire looked further west and continued their conquests. They successfully conquered Bosnia and now, at last, the road to Hungary was opened before Mehmed ll. But he was a brilliant tactician and recognized the need for consolidating the empire rather than fighting a war with Hungary now as he had to clear the eastern European kingdoms so his forces began to pour across Romania and began to move towards Ukraine.

This is where Stephen intervened and silently removed Alexander from the throne and posed himself as the Tsar by taking the appearance of Alexander. It was very difficult for Stephen to emulate Alexander in front of his wife Stephanie and two sons Alexey and Nicholas. He began to improve the designs of cannons. The new Cannons had increased range, lighter weight and more accuracy. The Mongol invasion brought the guns into Europe. But since the Mongols could not extend far into Europe, this weapon stayed in the hands of the Russian empire.

Stephen didn't wait for the Ottoman army to reach Ukraine. He gathered the Russian army and began to enter Romania.

The Romanian kings tried asking the help of every Western European kingdoms but none were willing to help. They even asked the Pope for assistance but they were never given a straight answer. As a final effort, they begged the help of Ukraine and through them the Russian empire. There they got a response and promise of help.

Once the Ottoman army reached the city of Sibiu they had to face the Russian empire. For the first time, Mehmed ll was soundly defeated in the battlefield. The Ottoman army never knew the capability of the Russian army and they suffered their greatest defeat. The Ottomans could not even engage the Russian army at Sibiu as they fell prey to the advanced cannon fire and any that survived were quickly put down by the guns of Russians. Mehmed ll retreated back and tried to set up a field where he could prepare trap but every time he engaged the Russians defeated him soundly. Eventually by the end of 1463 Ottoman forces had to abandon their Romanian adventure.

With this victory, Alexander l of Russian empire wrote his name in glory in the history of Europe. Romania joined the Russian empire and cut off all ties to Rome. Romanians thought Russia would impose their church upon them but Alexander l asked Romania to form its own church and then crowned him king of Romania. The war-torn lands would have ensured deep suffering for Romania but with their inclusion into the Russian empire, they had no troubles as almost every essential that they needed were given without any problems.

Ottomans tried a naval attack but again their naval forces were decimated by the Russian navy. Not only that, Constantinople itself was now threatened as the Black sea completely fell under Russian control. So Mehmed ll was forced to accept defeat and sued for peace. In return for the Russian empire to not attack Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire had to declare Eastern Europe off-limits to their expansion and recognized the Russian influence in this region. With a peace that virtually guaranteed the silent permission of Russia for Ottomans to go wild upon Western Europe, the Sultan began his assault anew upon Western Europe never realizing Russia's endgame.


	4. A death blow to the Ottomans

With Ottomans busy distracting the western powers, Alexander l began to introduce some changes to the governing systems of the empire. Ukraine and Romania were further divided into separate states and further ten states were added to the Russian empire totalling the count up to forty states. With an increased number of states, he further divided these states into districts according to the demographics. With a better education system, there were many people looking for jobs other than agriculture sector. So he created the Russian civil service department and Russian imperial police. The civil service personnel worked directly under the command of governors of each state. They were charged with civilian duties such as implementing law and order, implementing policies after consulting the governor, supervision of the implemented policies, travelling to places where the policies are being implemented, managing the finances of the district and many more. Over time many small departments like finance, commerce, agriculture, water, transport, and public works would be implemented for smoother running.

The imperial policy was made subservient to RCS and the governors. They had a ten-year term of service after that they would be tested further and reinstated to the police force. Those who failed the test would be retrained and spread out to new departments that would be forming closely.

Army reforms were also implemented by implementing a more sophisticated and open system of chain of command. The aristocracy of the empire had a good hold on the army but by changing the promotions of officers according to seniority only and establishment of several tribunals for disciplinary actions and military courts this influence began to gradually decline. With the victory of the Russian navy over the Ottoman navy, Alexander l gave separate command to the navy. So the army and navy got separated on December 24th in 1464. Alexander l ordered construction of more ports and ships across the coasts of the Black sea to maintain the naval supremacy. Alexander also formed the OKB, which was charged with producing and improving weapons for military purposes.

While Russia was undergoing rapid reforms in many states, the Ottoman Empire continued its string of conquests upon Western Europe. Rebellions began in Greece against Ottoman rule during 1464. But they were soundly put down by the Ottomans. Then they looked towards their next target Albania. The Albanians requested the aid of Italy but the aid never came as Italy remained silent as one by one the former parts of the Roman Empire began to fall to the Ottomans.

While Albania was a small nation they were able to resist two incursions into their homeland in 1466 and 1467. But the Ottomans were successful at last. But it was a very costly victory for the Ottomans. The war against Albania started in 1466. They were conquered in 1475. Twelve long years of war crippled much of the Ottoman forces to fight another war but Mehmed ll could not stop his crusade just like that. So he negotiated a trade deal with the Russian empire. Constantinople was once again used as trade nexus to buy food, medicine, weapons from Russia.

Russia greatly prospered from this trade and used this immense wealth upon Ukraine and Romania for development. Russian traders had easy access to the Ottoman Empire due to the superior navy of Russia. But it was not just the traders that came to Constantinople from Russia. Russian intelligence officers established a well-connected network across the land for the implementation of the master plan of Alexander l and waited patiently.

Mehmed ll began his conquest anew as fresh supplies began to arrive from Russia. His plan was to conquer all of Western Europe and then turn this might upon the Russians. So he launched an ambitious attack upon Italy in 1480. Since it was only 28 years after the fall of Constantinople, there was some fear that Rome would suffer the same fate. Plans were made for the Pope and citizens of Rome to evacuate the city. Pope Sixtus IV repeated his 1481 call for a crusade. Several Italian city-states, Hungary, and France responded positively to the appeal. The Ottoman forces attacked Otranto on May 1 of 1481. But on May 3 Mehmed ll fell in the battlefield. Chaos spread across the Ottoman forces as factions began to form supporting different successors. This led to the withdrawal of Ottoman forces back to Albania.

The time was ripe for the Russians. They sailed across the Black sea and laid siege to Constantinople. The Russian military already had a minor presence inside the city. They used this presence to assassinate high profile targets of Ottoman military before the siege ensuring the failure of the chain of command in the Ottoman forces. By the month of June, the entire city came under the control of the Russian army. This essentially trapped the Ottoman forces in Western Europe.

The Russian navy began a series of raids across the coasts of Ottoman empire forcing them to concentrate their army to defend their homeland instead of trying to take Constantinople. At the same time, the Russian army began invading Serbia and Bulgaria. There were already local resistances against Ottoman rule so by 1484 both nations became freed of Ottoman influence. It was the largest military defeat the Ottoman Empire ever knew. More than a hundred thousand soldiers died against the Russian empire alone. The rest of the Ottoman forces in Western Europe were destroyed by the combined Italian and French army.

From Bulgaria, the Russian army began its march into Greece. With Constantinople under Russian control, the Mediterranean Sea was now opened to the Russian Empire. They used their navy and army to destroy the remaining Ottoman army in Greece. Bulgaria was assimilated into the Russian empire. With the complete eradication of Ottoman forces, Alexander l began evicting all non-Christian citizens except Jews from Constantinople to Turkey. All the Christian churches were rebuilt by 1494 and Constantinople was renamed Tsargrad and officially assimilated as a part of the Russian empire. Jews were given safe haven in Tsargrad and Russian empire for their help in regaining control of Tsargrad. Jews were given equal rights as any citizens and were fully incorporated into the Empire.

Serbia was liberated by the Russian Empire. The Ottoman Empire was crushed by the Eastern European powers and Serbia had a fear their independence would be short-lived but Russia withdrew their armies and after some negotiations and agreed to help Serbia from the destruction of their war-torn lands. Since then Serbia and Russia enjoyed a fruitful relationship.

The Greeks owed their very existence to Russia. If Russia loses Tsargrad to Ottoman empire, Greece would be the first to feel their wrath. Not only that the Russian navy kept the Ottoman navy away from the Mediterranean. So Greece engaged in a full alliance with the Russian empire. Many were against such a course of action to completely depend on an Intercontinental empire like Russia but time proved that it was a brilliant move.

With the Mediterranean access, Russia could now access Italy, France, Spain, Britain and the entire African continent via the Mediterranean Sea. As soon as sufficient port facilities and ships were available Russian trade will boom in the future. Alexander l knew this but he also knew he needed a very good access point into the Baltic Sea. So he targeted a single Baltic nation which was Estonia. As a celestial, it was very easy for him to engineer a natural calamity.

In 1570 Estonia was struck by a series of powerful earthquakes which shattered much of the land. At that time Estonia was part of the Swedish empire. With much of the infrastructure destroyed and huge loss of life as well as the series of quakes that were suffered by Sweden itself, Estonia became a financial drain. This is where Alexander l came in with an offer. Russian Empire would be willing to buy Estonia at a price and Estonia itself would become a free trade hub for Sweden and Russian empires. This was a deal that they could not afford to lose. Even though it would be a shame for the Swedish empire to sell a part of their land but they swallowed their pride and accepted the offer. With the inclusion of Estonia Russia finally had unrestricted access to the Baltic Sea.

The Russian Empire was undergoing the greatest expansion in its history. Alexander created St. Petersburg in honour of Peter l the first king of Russia. Just like Moscow, this city became a cultural hub of Russia in the future. With the western borders secured Russia began the expansion into Eastern parts of its landmass. Southern parts of Siberia were still not under Russian control so they began the slow assimilation of these lands.

In 1575 Russia mourned as Alexander l died peacefully in his sleep in the palace of Light in Moscow. He was one of the best kings the Romanov family had ever produced. His son Alexey Romanov ascended the throne. He was very much a reformer like his father. He continued the reforms of his father and he took it one step further. His brother Nicholas fell in love with a Ukrainian girl named Anastasia Bagan. The problem was she was no nobility but a daughter of a modest merchant. There was much opposition to such a union but Alexey was his father's son. He saw an opportunity to completely shatter the powers of nobility and empower the crown even more. Alexey called many poets, writers, singers and minstrels. He charged them with creating songs, poems, stories about the love between his brother and Anastasia and to spread it across the empire. This was a sound strategy as within a year of spreading the tales of their love many became interested in what would happen to the lovers. Alexey used this wave of attention and with the blessings of the church of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Estonia and Bulgaria he changed the marriage laws of the Romanov family and thereby the crown. With the new law, any citizen of Empire could marry a Romanov so long as they were Christians. This was widely popular among the many citizens that inhabited the empire. Many prominent noble families planned to remove the Romanov's from power but all these families had very strange and tragic endings. This led to the belief that the blessing of the angel Stephen worked against all those who wished ill upon the descendants of Peter l. So in 1580, Nicholas Romanov wed Anastasia Bagan at a church in Kyiv in the Ukranian state. The further crowning ceremony of Anastasia happened in Moscow. She became the first low born to become a princess in the Russian empire, but she was certainly not the last.

The Ottoman Empire has been completely humiliated by the Russian empire. So to take revenge upon the Russians, Bayezid II the new emperor laid siege upon Tsargrad. But again the Russians proved their superiority in warfare. The Russian fleet created a blockade upon Turkey and strangled any commerce. Then the entire Ottoman navy was destroyed in the Mediterranean Sea. The vast fleets of Russia began its attack along the Black sea coast and the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

The siege of Tsargrad was a complete failure as the superior weapons; experienced soldiers of Russia broke the siege and captured most of the Ottoman army. It was a costly battle that saw a huge loss of life for the Ottoman Empire. With no hope for a victory, Bayezid II sued for peace. The treaty of Tsargrad was signed by Bayezid II and Alexey l in Tsargrad. The Ottoman Empire would have to pay in gold for the damages done to Tsargrad as well as the war in general. The Ottoman navy was further restricted to some few fishing fleets in the Mediterranean and Black sea. This war led to the economic ruin and destabilization of the Ottoman Empire.

In the year of 1600, Alexey l called a high profile meeting of his many governors, civil service personnel and court judges. The aim of this meeting was to establish a constitutional monarchy in the Russian empire. A long debate took place and at last everyone came to an agreement. Half the members of the Senate would be appointed by the Crown, but these members would only be selected from those who were previously governors, civil service personnel or those who were personally knighted by the crown. The other half representatives would be elected by the people. The total seats were fixed to be a hundred numbers. This was only a general design and it would take a lot of time until such a body came into existence but already the construction of the senate-house had begun.


	5. A little fun in space

From 1600 onwards Russian trade with Spain, France, Britain, Austria, Portugal, Netherlands and Italy started to increase as the Mediterranean Sea was now opened to the Russian fleet. The same thing happened in the Baltic Sea. Trade with Swedish empire, Polish- Lithuanian commonwealth, German confederate states and Denmark reached its peak.

Britain and France had a long history of rivalry but it was a very bloody rivalry for sure.

Anglo-French War (1193-1199) – Rivalry between the Capetian dynasty and the House of Plantagenet, ended in an English victory at the Battle of Gisors

Anglo-French War (1202–04) – French invasion and capture of Normandy.

Anglo-French War (1213–14) – rivalry between the Capetian dynasty and the House of Plantagenet, ended in a French victory at the Battle of Bouvines

French invasion of England (1215-1217) – part of the First Barons War

Saintonge War (1242–43) – ended in a French victory at the Battle of Taillebourg

Anglo-French War (1294–98 and 1300-03) – conflict which revolved around Gascony and ended by the Treaty of Paris (1303)

War of Saint-Sardos- Precursor conflict of the Hundred Years war French Victory.

Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) - ended as a French victory

Anglo-French War (1496–98) – part of the Italian War of 1494–98

Anglo-French War (1512–14) – part of the War of the League of Cambrai, French and Venetian Victory.

Anglo-French War (1522–26) – part of the Italian War of 1521–26

Anglo-French War (1542–46) – part of the Italian War of 1542–46

Anglo-French War (1557–59) – part of the Italian War of 1551–59

Many of the wars between these two nations were yet to come. With increased trade relations there was a chance for Russia being pulled into their wars? So Russia's trade relations were strictly business-oriented. This was true for all the other nations Russia traded with no military entanglements so far.

Another after-effect of Ottoman failure came in 1605. Due to the help the Jews in Tsargrad gave to the Russian troops in the siege, the Ottoman Empire began a heavy crackdown on Israel. They began to expel Jews enemas from their own lands. They began arriving in Tsargrad in huge numbers. Many prominent Jewish families travelled to Moscow to request the aid of Alexey l and they were not disappointed. The Russian empire used its navy to ferry as many Jews that escaped the prosecution into the Russian territories. Many Jews also went to the western parts of Europe.

The continued arrogance and barbarity of Ottomans made Alexey l and many of his advisors to think about a way to break the Ottoman power more thoroughly. So they began to concoct a plan to be implemented in 1610 as the deadline. OKB had the operational command for this particular mission.

Another important event happened in 1602. With the increased arrival of Jews into the Russian empire, many elements within the empire began making noises against the Jewish settlers. Seeing the situation for what it is and not to lose the only friendly nation in the world for their people many wealthy Jewish families came together and formed a course of action. They once again requested a meeting with Alexey l and presented their proposal for building a temple in honour of Stephen the Holy in Tsargrad at their own expense. But Alexey became interested in this project and decided to share the expense by the crown and began the building of this new temple. He also added the statues of Kings of Russia from Peter l around the temple so as to highlight the connection of house Romanov to the Angel.

In 1610 the plan to destabilize the Ottoman power came to fruition. On the month of May for the first time, the Russian empire began the war against the Ottoman Empire in Egypt. Using the Mediterranean fleet based on Cyprus they began the invasion of Egypt. They surgically divided the Egyptian land by striking at Gaza strip and Alexandria. Whole the Ottoman forces scrambled to defend these places while a concentrated Russian push came for their real targets namely Cairo, Ismalia and Sinai. The Russian navy had to ferry much of their troops into this thin strip of land that connected Egypt to the Ottoman Empire. It took more than a year for completely cutting off Egypt from the Ottoman Empire.

The Egyptians themselves raised in rebellion against their oppressors once they were promised independence by the Russians. With a two-front war Ottoman army crumbled in Egypt and the Egyptian army formed under Russian command took victory and as promised Russia honoured their oath and Egypt became independent. A military leader became the ruler of Egypt until a suitable governing system could be established. But Egypt needed the help of Russia to remain independent and to defend against any future invasion from the Ottoman Empire. So the treaty of Alexandria was signed between them. The treaty gave the Russian empire control of the land in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red sea as well as agreeing to several archaeological expeditions into Egypt in return for financial support.

By the end of 1612 Russians began constructing a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez which will be connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time war raged across the Ottoman empire.

This war was an existential crisis for the Ottoman Empire. They fought with a vigour never seen before. So here Stephen gave a little help to the Russian army. With his powers, he unleashed incredible landslides and cyclones upon the Ottoman Empire. For seven days the Ottoman-controlled lands faced the wrath of God. This along with their inability to defeat the Russians in the field led to the surrender of the Ottoman army once again. Ottoman Empire had to concede lands up to Jerusalem to the Russian empire in the peace settlement in 1613.

The taking of Jerusalem sent shockwaves across Europe. Finally, after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, a Christian nation finally reclaimed the birthplace of Christ. But Russia didn't integrate the land into their empire. This new possession became a colony of Russia and was given a separate special status of separate governance over time.

The Western powers now began to take the Russian empire very seriously. The Hapsburgs began to fight for the dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. But unfortunately they had too many enemies in the west and they could not concentrate their full attention on the Russian Empire. This caused the Russian empire to emerge as the strongest force in the Mediterranean and a great power.

With most of Russia's enemies distracted or neutralized Tsar Alexey l began the rapid development and exploration programs in the empire. Across Russia gold mines, silver mines and other precious metals were found. The wealth the empire had been immeasurable. So he began to use this wealth to invest in building schools, research facilities, naval training centres, merchant fleets, and public works and so on. All in all, it was an era of great advancement for the Empire.

With everything mostly intact in Russia, Stephen decided to take a trip across the Cosmos. So he started his newly remodelled ship and began to fly away from the Earth's atmosphere. The first thing he did was searching the Moon for any presence of Eternals. Fortunately or unfortunately all he found there was a few rocks and dust.

With some disappointment, he began investigating each and every planet in the Solar system. He began collecting samples from different planets for experimental purposes. After he was satisfied he set the coordinates for Xandar and accessed the jump point. With a sonic boom, the ship jumped into hyperspace. He engaged cloaking technology just as the ship came out of the jump point above Xandar.

He used a glider under cloaking technology to enter Xandar. He parked the glider in a discrete position and then blended in with the people of Xandar. Using the mirror dimension he was able to sneak into many of their factories and military settlements. After observing their technology he began looting Energy guns, energy shields, computers, different schematics of ships, automation, drones, anti-gravity systems, medical technology and so on. He used the sling ring to transport all of these gadgets to his ship. He had to stay in Xandar for a lot of years so as to learn about their technology. He also used his stay to collect data about the different planets in the known Universe and the Nova Empire had a gold mine of information on them.

After years of his stay in Xandar, he decided to leave to his prime destination. So he left Xandar on his ship and accessed the jump point to planet Morag.

Morag was once inhabited by a thriving and technologically advanced humanoid population. Before its destruction, the citizens of Morag constructed a large temple structure to house the Orb, an Infinity Stone.

Due to unknown climate-altering factors, Morag became submerged by oceans and uninhabitable. The planet is now abandoned, and the oceans only briefly recede to expose landmasses once every 300 years.

When he reached the planet it was clear of the Oceanic activity and the surface could be accessed. He took a glider down to the planet and began scanning the planet. With the advanced technology of the Dark Elves and Xandar, the temple that housed the Orb was easily found. He parked the glider near the temple and entered the temple. Skulls of Korinite species adorned the temple everywhere and at the very center, he saw a pedestal that suspended the orb. He used his powers and disabled the protections surrounding the orb and took it into his hand. He used his energy to manipulate the structure of the container and opened it easily. The power stone floated into his hand as the orb lay open. Once it touched his hand an explosion of power surrounded him but it settled down fast as he was easily able to control its immense power output. He felt absolutely invincible. With the power stone, he felt like his power got multiplied five times over. As a Celestial, that was a dangerous power level. It was a good thing that he was the last of his kind. But increased exposure to the stone will not harm him but his human body will simply crumble from its power so he formed a Vibranium bead and channelled some of the stone's power into it. With enough of its energy absorbed he cut off the energy and sealed the stone in a Vibranium container he formed and put the Vibranium orb in his pocket.

He looked at the Vibranium bead that is now pulsing with the energy of the Power stone. He put this bead into the Orb and put it back into the pedestal and reprogrammed it's defences to activate again. Now, if anyone would try to take the Orb they would be sorely disappointed.

With the power stone in his possession, he returned back to his ship and sped away from Morag. His next destination was Asgard. He had to be very vigilant here. He employed the cloak on the ship and hovered over Asgard expertly shielded from Heimdall's sight. As a master of the mystic arts and a Celestial, he had a few tricks up his sleeve to fool even Heimdall. Using his sling ring he teleported into Asgard shielded under an invisibility spell.

He found a lone guard and opened a portal under him which took him to his ship. He teleported into the ship as well and quickly knocked him unconscious and then bound him and imprisoned him. After that, he took the guards appearance and entered Asgard again. He wandered the halls but he finally found the one he was looking for. Thor was walking just opposite to him.

"My prince the Allfather requests your presence immediately." Stephen said with a bow

"Where is my father?" Thor asked

"In the throne room my prince." he answered

"Then I will go there." Thor said as he walked further

Stephen extended his powers and struck Thor from behind. The light pierced Thor's temples and made him fall unconscious. Using the sling ring Stephen took Thor to his ship and set him up upon a table. The various machines pierced Thor's body and began to draw blood from him. After that was done he used his powers to cloud his mind and then placed Thor in his room safely without any trouble.

"Sorry, Thor. In my previous life, I was your greatest fan. But now I am a million years old, maybe more. Time has tempered me. Soon we may meet. Until then take care of yourself." Stephen said as he left the room

His next destination was Odin's vault. He cast several spells and wards that disabled the security systems of the vault. He entered the vault using the sling ring and began inspecting the various relics. He found the eternal flame in the vault. He used a Vibranium container and scooped in some of the flame into it. He set it inside his ship using the sling ring. Then he looked further and finally found what he was looking for. He found the destroyer and Mjolnir in the vault. He used his powers and analyzed the structural composition of the metal. With a thought, he began to make the metal in his arm. An exact replica of the hammer formed in his arm. He smiled in triumph. With a thought, he cancelled the conjuration. With every objective completed Stephen left Asgard using the sling ring and entered his ship.

He began the journey back to Earth with a satisfied smile.


	6. Home sweet home

With a sudden jerk, his ship exited the jump point above Earth. Stephen looked down upon the blue planet and smiled. After living so many years and seeing many planets in his lifetime he still could not contain the happiness he felt whenever he saw Earth. Some small part of him still held a special attachment to this planet.

A being like him could create a planet on his own. Yet he played the little power plays in earth wasting his time. But he is an immortal being. If he just conquers the entire planet or even the Universe, what would he do after that? He would be bored to death. So he played his little games with the humans and he was enjoying it.

His ship under cloak entered the Earth's atmosphere and began to slowly levitate down to his home up in the mountains in Kozan. As his ship approached the tallest mountain he manipulated the molecules and split the mountain and his ship safely entered the mountain which enclosed after a wave of his hand.

The first thing he did was to set up the various automation with the help of his drones. He programmed the drones to start working inside the mountain and the surrounding dense forests and a series of mountains that guarded his home. After his awakening, he had been making the mountains taller, steep, rocky and filling it with dangerous animals to avoid any human to stumble into it. The world will soon enter into an advanced age so he had to make sure the defences are naturally impenetrable. The drones will be redesigning the whole mountain chains. Considering that it is filled with Vibranium he would be creating the most advanced place in Europe. Wakanda already cracked the secrets of Vibranium so he has a mountain of knowledge on that subject.

The drones and automation began their work as he completed the setting up of computers and power relays across his home. Construction droids began connecting the mountain ranges and establishing transport lanes across the mountains. He would be needing that for mining and other purposes. He began designing reactors using Vibranium for powering his humble home.

With all this going on he built a lab inside the tallest mountain where his brain was housed. This is where he was going to house the Power stone and the samples he had collected in his intergalactic travel. When this facility became operational he would be conducting certain experiments that he had in mind. Until then all the samples will be safely stored in his ship.

With the work progressing in his home he decided to concentrate on the outside world. Twenty-six years had passed after he left the planet to travel the Cosmos. So it was in 1640 he returned back to Earth.

Russia focused on the Suez Canal to be built and they succeeded this engineering marvel within thirteen years in 1625. The opening of the Suez canal gave the Russian navy access to the Red sea as well as the Indian Ocean. By 1635 Russian empire established trade relations with Arabia,.Oman, Yemen and various kingdoms of Indian subcontinent. Of course, the Arab lands were under Ottoman control. But with the Russian Empire's aid rebellions were always happening and this distracted the Ottoman Empire from Europe as they struggled to hold their fracturing Empire. Trade with African continent was also established by the end of 1636.

Naval bases were constructed near the Suez canal to defend the Russian interests. Egypt and Cyprus provided a perfect base for the Russian navy to operate unchallenged in the Mediterranean.

While Russia was riding the waves of great Naval expansion and prosperity the rest of Europe fell into a terrible war. Initially, it was a war between various Protestant and Catholic states in the fragmented Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the European great powers. These states employed relatively large mercenary armies, and the war became less about religion and more of a continuation of the France–Hapsburg rivalry.

On one side a grand coalition of Sweden, Dutch Republic, France, Denmark–Norway, Bohemia, The Palatinate, Saxony, Brandenburg-Prussia, Brunswick-Lüneburg, England, Scotland and Transylvania.

On the other side the Hapsburg coalition of Italy, Catholic League, Austria, Spanish Empire, Hungary, Denmark–Norway and Poland.

This war started on 13 May 1618. The war dragged on for years with no end and no clear victor. France was the one that most suffered from the war. They had to fight on three fronts Italy, Spain and Austria. This bled their soldiers dry and they saw no end to this war soon.

The French king became convinced that the only way they could win this war was through bringing in the Russian Empire to their side. But Sweden had already made many requests for aid or intervention but the Russians had stubbornly resisted. So he concocted a plan with the King of England Charles l. They requested a betrothal between the daughter of Charles l, Princess Mary and the eldest son of Emperor Alexey, Peter ll.

This proposal was accepted by Alexey as he saw a chance to obtain the British crown in the future. So he accepted this proposal and the marriage took place in the Church of Moscow. It was a union that birthed a strong alliance in the future. Mary and Peter ll married in 1642. It was also the year the Russian Empire entered into the war.

The Italian and Austrian fleet in the Mediterranean simply ceased to exist after the first two years of war. Russian attack also came into Poland. Lithuania was conquered by the Russian forces in 1643 effectively destroying the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. But after the war, Russia withdrew from Lithuania. With the attack from both Sweden and Russia, Poland surrendered in 1645.

The remnant states of the Roman empire under the control of Habsburg began to slip away one by one in Central Europe. The only remaining threat was Spain. France and Russia combined their fleets and began a sterling attack upon the Spanish navy from the Mediterranean while Britain and Scotland attacked from the Bay of Biscay. France led the land-based attack upon Spain. Against overwhelming odds, Spain had no hope and finally surrendered in 1648. That was the final blow for the Hapsburg.

It took thirty years for the war to end and over eight million men were considered to be dead maybe even more. It was the most devastating war Europe has ever seen until then. The relations between France, Russia and the British were strengthened after this war.

Mary had three children with Peter Romanov. William was the eldest, then Nicholas and their only daughter Tatiana.

William became the king of Britain in 1689 when he invaded Britain and took the crown from his uncle James. So Nicholas l took the crown of the Russian Empire.

With all this happening outside Stephen completed the remodelling of his home. With all the facilities and technology installed he began his first experimentation. He began to map the DNA of Thor and his own DNA. With advanced gene-splicing technology, he was trying to find the perfect combination of Celestial and Asgardian genes. He wanted to make a perfect body that can withstand the full powers of a Celestial. There was a need for such a body as already very few things can even compare to him in power alone but this was just an experimental curiosity for him.

Curiosity or not he was finally able to combine Asgardian and Celestial genes with promising results. Still, he would be conducting more experiments to determine the capabilities of such a body from the union of these two genes.

With the ascension of William ll as the king of the United Kingdom and peace in Europe restored, the European nations began rapid colonisation in Asia, the Americas and Africa. Because of the presence of the Suez canal, this became a very easier matter. With the dynastic links established between Russia, Britain and France, a coalition of these three powers became an untouchable power in the world.

With all their external enemies neutralized France and Britain resumed their rivalry in obtaining more power. They began to compete in colonizing the world around them thereby spreading their rule and culture. The only exception was the Russian empire as they already have a gigantic landmass and population to worry about.

Russia had to intervene as a mediator many time to broker peace between these European powers whenever a crisis sprung up. As a result, trade was booming and Russia enjoyed an economic parity in society. Migration from baltic states as well as from Britain, France and Germany was increasing in rate. This, in turn, caused the liberal ways of Russia to spread into European nations. Some nations like Britain implemented such changes but France resisted such ideas and suppressed such things.

Then a conflict took place in the European continent between all major European powers. The Seven Years' War was a global conflict fought between 1756 and 1763. It involved every European great power of the time and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions: one was led by the Kingdom of Great Britain and included the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and other small German states; while the other was led by the Kingdom of France and included the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Spain and Swedish empire.

In 1756 a large-scale conflict drew in most of the European powers was centred on Austria's desire to recover Silesia from the Prussians. Seeing the opportunity to curtail Britain's and Prussia's ever-growing might, France and Austria put aside their ancient rivalry to form a grand coalition of their own, bringing most of the other European powers to their side. Faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain and Russia aligned themselves with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. However, French efforts ended in failure when the Anglo-Prussian- Russian coalition prevailed, and Britain's rise as among the world's predominant powers destroyed France's supremacy in Europe, thus altering the European balance of power.

1783 saw the independence of America from colonial rule and formed the United States of America. This was achieved by strategic support from France. But French monarchy suffered a death blow in 1793 by the French revolution. But the revolution was used by Napoleon as a stepping stone to establish his hold in power. He became the Emperor of France from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He launched a war of conquest upon the European continent. He won a string of victories in central Europe but this made him arrogant and using the Polish people he launched a campaign against Russia. That spelt the doom for Napoleon as his supposed invincibility in the battlefield was broken as he incurred a series of humiliating defeats that also led to his falling out with Poland. Napoleon's own character turned his staunch allies into his enemies. The entire Europe united against France and led to the defeat of Napoleon in Waterloo.

Under the 1815 Paris treaty, the previous year's Treaty of Paris and the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, of 9 June 1815, were confirmed. France was reduced to its 1790 boundaries; it lost the territorial gains of the Revolutionary armies in 1790–92, which the previous Paris treaty had allowed France to keep. France was now also ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities, in five yearly instalments and to maintain at its own expense a Coalition army of occupation of 150,000 soldiers in the eastern border territories of France, from the English Channel to the border with Switzerland, for a maximum of five years. The two-fold purpose of the military occupation was made clear by the convention annexed to the treaty, outlining the incremental terms by which France would issue negotiable bonds covering the indemnity: in addition to safeguarding the neighbouring states from a revival of revolution in France, it guaranteed fulfilment of the treaty's financial clauses.

On the same day, in a separate document, Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia renewed the Quadruple Alliance. But once again time will see these nations pitted against each other in the battlefield.


	7. Great War

King Wilhelm, I became King of Prussia and he appointed Otto von Bismarck on 23 September 1862, Minister-President and Foreign Minister, who favoured a 'blood-and-iron' policy to create a united Germany under the leadership of Prussia.

The Treaty of Prague formally dissolved the German Confederation and Prussia created the North German Confederation to include all Germanic states except the pro-French, southern kingdoms of Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg.

When the French emperor, Napoleon III, demanded territories of the Rhineland in return for his neutrality amid the Austro-Prussian War, Bismarck used the Spanish Succession Question and Ems Telegram as an opportunity to incorporate the southern kingdoms. Napoleon III declared war against Prussia.

In 1871 the Franco-Prussian War ended with Prussian troops capturing Paris, the capital of the Second French Empire. Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg were incorporated into the North German Confederation in the Treaty of Frankfurt. Bismarck then proclaimed King Wilhelm I, now Kaiser Wilhelm I, as leader of the new, united Germany (German Reich), excluding Austria. With the German troops remaining in Paris, Napoleon III dissolved the French Empire and a new republic, the Third French Republic, was created under Adolphe Thiers.

The formation of the German Empire shattered the balance of power in Europe. Before that, the main powers were always Britain, France, Austria and Russia. With Russia rarely exerting their influence on the European continent the other three powers had significant influence. Entire Poland came under German rule after the formation of the empire.

France becoming a republic hardly changed its attitude in the outside world. They continued their practice of colonialism and frequently competed with the British empire.

French politics revolved around the humiliation of the treaty of Frankfurt. They saw Germany as their greatest enemy. Naturally, Britain recognized this hatred that they had for each other. Seeing this and also to ensure the German Reich stayed firmly a friend of the British empire a dynastic alliance was made. In 1858 Princess Victoria of Britain married Frederick lll of the German empire.

Germany's growth was alarming to all European powers. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85, regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power. The conference was organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany and its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa.

Most of the African continent became divided by the colonial powers of Europe. But Russia stayed out of colonizing Africa instead they concentrated on regulating the European powers in the Mediterranean and through the Suez canal, exerting trade influence in the Baltic nations, Japan and America. With Russia being a prime target for migration America lost much of its educated population and significantly reduced its powers in the future. While Germany, Britain, France and many other European powers faced political instability and social unrest Russia enjoyed a moderate progressive and stable society. This was mainly due to many social reforms introduced periodically over the years like public health care, universal suffrage, equal distribution of land and many more.

But in 1888 everything changed. Wilhelm ll of the German empire ascended the throne. His first act as Kaiser was to dismiss the country's long-time chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 before launching Germany on a new course to cement its status as a respected world power. However, due to his temperamental personality, he frequently undermined this aim by making tactless, alarming public statements without consulting his ministers beforehand. He also did much to alienate other Great Powers from Germany by initiating a massive build-up of the German Navy.

The power of the British Empire lay in the seas. So long as Britain has the strongest navy in the world its position as a world power will remain unchallenged. There was only one nation in the world that could challenge the British dominion in the seas and that was the Russia Navy. Fortunately for Britain, Russians never participated in colonial expansion and thus they never used their Navy for conquests but rather for trade. Not only that, whenever Britain came under crisis Russia always helped them without asking much in return. There was a long-standing relationship between Britain and Russia so they never came into conflict.

But with Wilhelm ll as the emperor of Germany, they began a fast-paced naval expansion which directly threatened the power of Britain. This forced Britain to be paranoid and they began to do all they can to limit German expansion in any field. France used this rift between Germany and Britain to bring Britain into their camp.

France desired a war with Germany to retake the lost lands of Alsace-Lorraine. For this, they needed Britain and Russia. They tried there hardest to woo Russia against Germany. But the same neutrality Russia employed when dealing with Europe helped them to never commit to anything. But France was able to secure long term loans, weapons, planes, ammunition and a guaranty of Russian neutrality in any conflict with Germany.

As European powers sharpened their swords in preparation for war, Stephen infiltrated the OKB. He worked as a scientist under the OKB. He used his knowledge and quickly rose ranks as his discoveries and modifications in military equipment like automatic guns, armoured vehicles and artilleries made him into the head of research wing of OKB.

Using this position he introduced Vibranium. He sent a delegation of miners to Perm. It was there the miners found a very different metal. This discovery was kept a tight secret and Perm was closed down and came under the protection of Army and OKB. With the discovery of Vibranium, a detailed team was assembled for further testing of the super metal. As the properties of Vibranium began to be discovered the use of Vibranium became strictly restricted to OKB. Not even the Army knew about its existence. Further mapping of land resources led to further discovery of Vibranium metal across the landmass of Russia. By 1900s a functioning power plant was built inside a secret OKB facility using Vibranium. This was a major discovery as now Russia had the means to produce unlimited clean energy which could power the entire nation. But this was kept a secret.

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis. In response, on 23 July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia's reply failed to satisfy the Austrians, and the two moved to a war footing.

Germany gave full support to Austria which led them to invade Serbia. In response to this France mobilized across the German border. This, in turn, made the German army to mobilize as well. The war in Serbia for Austria became a meat grinder. Serbia was a client state of Russia and they gave military training and pieces of equipment to Serbia through Romania and Bulgaria. This led to the Austrian and Hungarian armies to be defeated in the field by a numerically weaker army of Serbia. Still, Austria threw all its army upon Serbia as it was a matter of national prestige.

While the Eastern front made no improvement for the central powers, Germany attacked France through Belgium. French army reeled back from this attack as they were consistently being pushed back towards Paris. With Belgium invaded, Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Germany expected a short war but the initial success they enjoyed began to slow down and the Western Front ground to a halt as trench lines began to be drawn across France halting the Kaiser's armies. They began to look for allies to continue the war outside Germany. Italy remained strictly neutral and Russia was not friendly so they began to draw in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman navy targeted the Suez Canal so as to disrupt troop transport from Asia to the aid of Allies. But this became a monumentally stupid decision as the canal was owned by Russia and hence they protected it with their navy. The Ottoman and Russian navy came into direct conflict and just like every battle they fought since the 1200s, the Russians won easily. Seeing the opportunity France, Britain and Portugal declared war on the Ottoman Empire in support of Russia. The end result was the end of the sick man of Europe. Ottoman Empire collapsed in the wake of the Great War.

Russian emperor Alexander lll decided enough was enough and decides to completely tear down the Ottoman Empire. So he declared war on the Ottomans and at the same time began to arm and support Polish rebellion against German rule.

This was an effective tactic as Poland rose up in rebellion and engaged German troops in battle. Germany accused Russia of inciting rebellion. Rather than denying it Russia wholeheartedly accepted that they were responsible and said this is a warning to Germany for pushing Russia into a war with Ottomans.

Germany began sending troops into Poland. This caused Russia to mobilize its armies to attack Germans in Poland. Before the end of 1914, Russia had joined the Allied powers. Up until then Germany had won in almost all battles and achieved most of their strategic objectives except the fall of Paris.

German colonies, on the other hand, did not farewell. Japan took all of German colonies in the Pacific while France and Britain assaulted their African possessions.

Russia began its attack from Romania against Hungarian forces. Hungary was already at a tipping point as they desired to split from Austria. Hungarian soldiers had to face the full brunt of Russian machine guns, Tanks and Artillery shells. The death toll was massive for the Hungarian army. The Austrian army in Serbia got a special New Year gift by the Russians as they bombed their positions using aircraft thereby enabling the Serbian army to knock back the Austrian army across the border.

On 3rd July 1915 Hungary surrendered to Russian Empire and made a separate peace with Allies. Hungary also announced their independence from Austria and allowed Russian army passage to Austria.

Up until then, Italy had remained neutral throughout the war. But now that their main rival, Austria is in a losing war they mobilized their armies and attacked Austria. A two-front war was a death blow to Austria and the country simply disintegrated as Monarchists and Socialists openly fought in the streets. Finally, socialists took power in Austria in September 1915 dethroning Franz Joseph and signed a declaration of surrender with the Allies and only Germany now remained in the field.

The high seas fleet of Germany began using unrestrictive naval warfare upon the Baltic Sea and North Sea. The U boat menace represented a grave threat to Royal Navy. But in Baltic, the German subs became the hunted instead of the Russian Navy because they possessed advanced Sonar systems which were able to pinpoint the location of enemy subs. Because of this in 1916 the Baltic Sea became dominated by the Russian Navy.

By 1916 most of East Prussia came under the occupation of Russian troops. This along with the static western front, shortages of food supplies and huge losses of life forced the Kaiser to sign an armistice on June 7, 1916.

27th July of 1916 saw the signing of Versailles treaty and in the East, Germany was to recognize the independence of the Kingdom of Bohemia and Moravia and to cede a small part of the province of Upper Silesia. Germany had to recognize the independence of Poland and renounce all rights and title over the territory. Portions of Upper Silesia that were ethnically Polish were to be ceded to Poland. The province of Posen was also to go partly to Poland along with parts of Pomerania. The sovereignty of part of southern East Prussia was to be decided via plebiscite. An area of 32,100 square kilometres was granted to Poland at the expense of Germany thereby creating a tripwire between Germany and Russia. Finally, the Great War ended but not as harsh as what it could have been.


	8. New Russia

The outbreak of peace in Europe was followed by the immediate return of the front line troops back to their respective homelands. Russia began a gradual withdrawal of troops while only leaving some troops in Poland until a proper government takes power.

With an early end to the war, a lot of casualties were avoided and the war itself became a little less costly. The only problem Europe faced was the large number of returning army personnel as there would be no need for keeping a large standing army under command. The unemployment rates would become so high now that the industries for military purposes would be shut down for the time being.

The many soldiers of Russian Empire found a grand welcome in their homeland as the people stood along the streets across villages and cities to welcome the heroes' home. While other nations were struggling to support the influx of returning soldiers and prisoners of war, Russia employed their men in post-war reconstruction. Even though Russian lands never suffered much in the war the lessons that taught in this war were too important to be forgotten in the haze of victory. Using the returning soldiers Russian Empire began construction works tearing down old buildings and bridges and employed scientific designs to structures and layouts of the cities so as to avoid massive destruction in the event of bombing. Rail lines were expanded and train services were increased in numbers throughout the empire. Roads were increased in width and in some cases, national highways were created with multiple lanes. Automobile industry was very large in the Russian Empire since the majority of people were of the middle class so good roads always increase more trade and fuel industry itself gets a boost. Then there was the construction of huge power plants in remote areas, powered by Vibranium that produced more power than Russia needed, which obviously was kept a very closely held secret under the close watch of OKB.

Even though Britain won the war their leaders realized they were fighting a losing war and it was the combination of German blunder, the resilience of French, blind luck and Russian aid that saw to their victory. This just highlighted the importance of keeping France and Russian empire as an ally. While one was a contender for power and influence in Asia and Africa the other was a passive ally which effectively supported their colonies and the British Empire as a whole. But still many were disappointed in the performance of the empire as a whole and chafed under their reliance on foreign powers to deal with an enemy of the largest and greatest empire spanning across continents.

Russia had tremendous power and influence at their disposal, yet they never use it aggressively opting to use diplomacy and trade to get what they want. If history has proven anything the Russian Empire enjoyed a peaceful union of multi-linguistic people which was something Britain has always struggled within their home Islands. Moreover, Britain recognized their weakness was with its army. So keeping that in mind and with increased cooperation on mind they send some of the troops to Russia for military training which itself eventually created a joint base of operations in Eastern Europe.

Britain and France fought a very expensive war against the German empire. They fell in debt with the US and Russia. Both of these colonial nations represented a threat to American ideals. So the US began to call in the debts to slowly destabilize the colonial powers but this tactic may have worked in another reality when the US joined the war on their side but here and now this move was strictly scrutinized by the media and politicians of Britain and France. With a small nudge from the OKB releasing several secret plans of a sect of American senators to the European media, American plans fell into a gutter so to speak.

Already the various political powers in the respective European nations were not on good terms with the US, but this incident pushed Britain and France together like never before. British, French and Russian governments negotiated a free trade agreement between the three great powers. It also became a stage for a mutual agreement of spheres of influence of the three great powers. Slowly but surely British and French investments were transferred from US to Russia. This proved to be a boon as both powers escaped the Great depression down the line but still some parts of their economy were affected.

XXXXXXXX

In 1917 July 6, Russian Empire rejoiced at the birth of young Peter Romanov, the third and final child of the Emperor Alexander lll was born. As the elder children were both females the crown would have gone outside Alexander's own blood but now with a male heir, the crown will be passed down to Peter.

Stephen had done his best to implement a wide variety of ideas for the use of Vibranium in his time as the head of the OKB research wing. Further ideas and designs were already recorded in secret files in the OKB archives. Already Vibranium is being used to create undetectable Submarines and even power them in secret facilities across the Empire and the results were very promising. The invention of printed circuit boards enhanced the fledging field of electronics. Already the military applications were skyrocketing. Even computing technology in its basic forms has been discovered by him with improvements adding into it further and further. With the abundance of electrical energy new electrical engines, batteries and generators were being designed for both Civilian and Military purposes.

With most of his objectives completed he decided to kill this character and took a new role as a young sixteen-year-old boy named Dmitry Ivanov.

XXXXXXXX

With the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East came under the control of the Russian Empire. With Israel under Russian rule and Egypt, a client state the importance of maintaining Russian influence in Arab nations became a necessity. But as history has proved many times foreign occupation will not give them any long term benefits so they had to champion a regional power to take control of Arabian lands.

It was this search that led them to the Sultanate of Oman. They were the only ones which the Russians found somewhat sane to deal within the region. With the aid of the Russian Empire, the Sultan of Oman declared a war of conquest upon the Arabian nations. Russian and Oman troops marched across the deserts conquering Yemen, and Saudis. The population of these regions was very low compared to other nations at that time. The campaign started in 1916 and ended successfully in 1918.

Religion had a lot of influence in Asian nations. If you look at history almost all major religions came from Asia and they still remain strong to this day. Russians knew the next challenge that they had with the new Oman would be religious extremism. All religions have a similar way of influencing people. They hold a monopoly on education to subvert the thinking process of every person in their religion. This process is done from early childhood and continues even after they become adults.

The Russians overcame this pitfall by educating their people from the early 12th century in Science rather than religion. Religion became only a cultural identity in Russia but after the formation of the empire, even this started to diminish as different people interacted within the empire. The inclusive nature of Russia made it possible to combat religious extremism. But that doesn't mean religion is an unnecessary thing. But if religion becomes a state policy the room for further growth of society will be stunted and often it leads to unstable elements in society.

So in order to break Oman from any such pitfalls, Russians invested much of their resources into educating the masses by opening schools and technical training centres at the same time oil rigs began to be explored across the region. The oil tap from Oman began to open which essentially powered all European nations and Asia. Americans discovered Oil fields in Texas as well but they were a little too late in exploiting the market as Russia and Oman took the world market by storm. Russian oil tankers began to reach Alaska, Canada, India, Japan, Western Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia and the Americas.

XXXXXX

Japan came out of the Great War with more territories than it previously had. With German Pacific possessions under Japanese control, they were ready to expand and become the dominant power in the Pacific. After the end of the Great, War Japan proposed a racial equality proposal to the great powers which of course got denied. Most of the European powers had very Orthodox societies during the 1900s. Even if Japan entered the war on the Entente side they were not given the due respect they deserved. This was mainly because social unrests were spreading across the European nations. Already several social norms were being challenged as Women demanded voting rights, gender equality movements, trade unions sprouting up left and right. With all this going on most of the western nations were unwilling to entertain Japanese proposal.

Japan then turned to the Empire that is geographically near them with the same proposal. Russians have stood by as Japan invaded Korea, Manchuria and China for the last few decades. Britain and Americans helped Japan and thought them as a counterweight to Russia but they never realized Russian ambition never lay in Asia till then as they were focused on securing their western flank in Europe. So Russian rulers watched with glee as their Western rivals invested in Japan while ultimately Russia would sweep in and reap the fruits of their labour.

The proposal from the Empire of Japan was taken seriously by the Russian emperor and his senate. Several members of the Senate saw this as an opportunity to bring Japan into an alliance with them. While many were sceptical of this course of action many still agreed to tie Japan closely to themselves for geographical and economic reasons. So the senate dominated by the Progressive party advised the Emperor to put forth a proposal of their own.

XXXXXXXX

Terauchi Masatake the prime minister of the Empire of Japan looked at his sovereign to study his reaction to the Russian proposal.

"So they are willing to accept the racial equality proposal." Emperor Taisho said

"Yes, my emperor. But we will have to enact certain laws in Korea and Manchuria and accept the people of those lands as citizens of Japan. If this assurance can be made by the emperor of Japan, then Russian empire will recognize our racial equality proposal and promises to increase trade between our empires." Terauchi Masatake said

"Tell me, prime minister, can we trust the Russians." Emperor Taisho asked

"We have expanded our influence on Korea and Manchuria in the past. The Russians have been only silent observers in all of this. We can strongly believe Russia has no interest in Asia and is quite happy to leave Korea and Manchuria to us. They are genuine in their proposal my Emperor." Terauchi Masatake said

"But why suggest this inclusion of laws and promises regarding Korea and Manchuria. What benefits them if we implement these laws." the Emperor asked

"We are not entirely sure. The Russians were the backbone of the British Empire. I believe they are genuinely trying to strengthen the Empire of Japan and they desire a stable Japan to deal with." Terauchi Masatake said

"To what end." the emperor asked

"We do not know my emperor." Terauchi Masatake said

"Find it. In the mean time, we will accept the Russian proposal." Emperor Taisho said

"As you command my Emperor…" Terauchi Masatake bowed his head

The treaty was signed by the two Emperors after certain trade negotiations reached favourable terms. There were some initial push back from different parts of the empire and other European nations. But it largely fell apart as a wave of socialism was spreading across the European continent. Russia was not exempt from this change in political climate.

Up until 1918, the Russian senate had a two-party system for the elected candidates which filled half the senate. The other half was filled up by the Emperor. In 1918 the Progressive party and United Peoples party jointly petitioned the Emperor for more autonomy of the senate and restructuring the senate itself. But this was a decision the Emperor could not take just because the senate suggested it. So he asked the OKB to do a detailed study on this matter and to submit a detailed report on their findings.

In October 1918 the OKB submitted a detailed report along with their recommended form and powers of the new senate. The major points were,

1\. Governors of each state will be appointed by the Emperor but the governors shall be removed from the senate and henceforth forfeiting any voting powers for the legislature. Their sole duty will be the welfare of the state they represent.

2\. The Senate will have legislative power and may form a government according to the majority of the party. They may also henceforth form the office of Chancellor. The Chancellor will lead the senate and will be the commander in chief of the armies of Empire.

3\. The power of the Emperor is absolute. If the Emperor feels the need and loses trust in the government he may dismiss the government and Chancellor. All treaties and laws will be valid only with the signature of the Emperor. The Chancellor is only a temporary commander in chief of the army. This position can be taken back if the Emperor wills it. This position is merely given to the Chancellor as a show of trust by the Emperor. It is not strictly necessary for this position to be held by the Chancellor as it can be given to a trusted army officer with the rank of General.

4\. Every citizen must either have a certified degree from the government recognized University of Russian Empire/ five years of military service in any government department/ seven years of service in policing forces/ one term as governor of a state/ someone personally knighted by the emperor. This is an important requirement for a citizen seeking to enter the elections for senate.

There were many more such proposals and in the end, the Emperor decided to establish this new form of government. Russian Empire has now completely become a constitutional monarchy with a newly strengthened Senate in 1919 and the first government took power under the leadership of Progressive party. An age of Democracy was spreading upon the world.


	9. Power plays begin anew

Towards the end of 1920, there was growing resentment against Britain and France by a significant majority of the Russian senate. There are several factors that influenced this radical shift. One was the gross violations of the French republic in terms of using the reparations money from Germany for rebuilding their war-torn lands. Instead of doing this the French republic was using this money to further destabilize the German government as an act of revenge. Britain was being a silent spectator to these uncivilized acts of their ally despite repeated warnings from the Russian Chancellor for restraint.

Victor Vasiliev was a proud man with a mean streak to his character which was backed up with a sharp cunning mind that destroyed his enemies so thoroughly. Well, he can be as proud as he wants to as he was the first Chancellor of the Russian Empire. The actions of Britain and France was a personal insult to him and the office that he represented as he had made a journey all the way to London and spoke in length with the British Prime Minister and the French government. All it accomplished was him losing face with his countrymen and that was unacceptable for Victor. He who was the Chancellor of the strongest Empire in the world was treated like some background politician by these cowards who were begging for Russian intervention in the war that they basically started. It was this thought that led him to seek the destruction of the British Empire and the French Republic.

But to destroy such prominent nations first he had to cut off their cash cows to harm their economies and their colonies were their lifeblood. It was this reason that he began looking to Asia for trusted partners that could stand with the Empire against the Western powers. Fortunately, the Empire already had two trusted trade partners in the Sultanate of Oman and the Japanese Empire. But that was not enough and Victor needed a close proximity and trade influence on the Asian colonies of Britain and France. He had a plan but it was difficult for him to convince the Senate to pass the new bill but with some effort, he managed to secure the majority votes for buying the Maldives islands from the British Empire. As Britain was looking to settle all her outstanding debts quickly because of the fallout with the United States the British government was more than willing to sell it off to Russia under the assurance of using the islands only for trade purposes.

In 1921 the Russian Empire formally assimilated the Maldives into the Empire. It was an important piece of land that can be able to connect south East Asian nations through sea trade to the empire and Oman, as well as a tourist attraction for many in the Empire. Already massive constructions were being started to connect the islands through a series of roads, rails and bridges.

Already there were sparks of nationalist movements in most of the British colonies. Britain was having some success in suppressing them but already the die has been cast and the rampant imperialism will be going down around the world within a few decades.

As the great powers were fighting for every scrap of power in the European continent Poland, Hungary, Kingdoms of Serbia, Croats were all experiencing an economic boom alongside post-war reconstruction and enjoying their complete independence from German and Austrian empires.

With Austria falling into decline and drawing close to Italian sphere of influence the pieces of old empire flocked to the massive Russian Empire as they saw Poland and Hungary managed to outsmart Britain and France by securing treaties and promises from the Russian empire which were almost completely fulfilled without losing even a tiny strip of land.

The Chancellor of Russian Empire was very much insistent in creating several buffer states in Central Europe against possible aggression from a revitalized Germany or the push from a Britain-France alliance that was forming over the American blunder in Global stage. Russia was now considered a rival for its power as Russian influence was penetrating into Central Europe at an unprecedented level.

At the moment Britain and France were concentrated on screwing over a defeated and starved out Germany and defending against the plots from the US. So they were largely ignoring what Russia was doing with the Baltic nations and Central Europe but they were very aware and the result was the formation of League of Nations in 1921 as a result of Paris Conference.

Establishing of the League was in no way a platform for nations to come together in peace. It was merely a platform for the great powers to establish their power plays to bring the weaker nations to their side. In short, it was a global stage for the shadow war of politics. Business, as usual, would be the apt expression.

Meanwhile, Russia's relationship with Japan was warm that doesn't mean they could outright influence the rampant militarism that was prevailing in Japan. In fact, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow was already looking for possible support against the American presence in the Philippines. Considering the geographical position of the island nation it was very understandable why the Japanese were concerned about their Pacific rival's presence near their doorstep. Philippines would give a perfect base of operations against the Japanese Empire. Their paranoia had some strong backing as the US senate and presidents were enacting a cat and mouse play with Philippine independence since they took the old colony of Spain during the Spanish-American war in 1898 which itself was started by the Americans for no good reason.

This was why Victor Vasiliev the first Chancellor of the Russian Empire was meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi who was visiting Moscow to sign a naval treaty that ensured mutual cooperation in strategic matters. At least that was what the outside world will know. The real reason for the presence of the Japanese PM was for signing a secret pact that the Empires of Japan and Russia are mutually agreeing for the annexation of Alaska into the Japanese Empire.

**XXXXXXXX**

After the proper ceremonies were over and signing the treaty in view of the entire Senate of Russia Victor led the PM into his official residence in his own car with a proper escort.

After they had lunch they were seated across from one other Victor surprised the PM by speaking in Japanese.

"Now that the entire veil is properly in place we can come to the real matter at hand. We are aware of the need for Japan to acquire a stable colony that can be permanently integrated into the empire for your strategic purposes as well as for spreading out your population from the Islands. Am I right?" Victor asked as he filled two bowls with sake and gave one to Takashi.

"Indeed. There are other reasons as well but mostly, yes. We need a longstanding colony that can be safely integrated into the empire. We have been trying with Korea and China but both are a huge drain on resources. The American presence nearby is not making it easy. If they had no ulterior motives then they would have given independence to the Philippines especially after their independence mission to the United States in 1919. Now the US senate has blocked the move and has postponed it to an undetermined time we are concerned the Americans are using the Island to encroach into our sphere of influence." Takashi replied as he took a sip of the sake

"We are aware of the situation prime minister. They are already trying their best to enter into central Europe as well. They have already managed to hold some influence in British and French economies which the respective nations are correcting somewhat. But I have a solution to your colony problem." Victor let the bait hang

"Please do enlighten me." Takashi leaned forward

Victor stood up and opened a drawer from his table and returned with a rolled map to his seat.

"My solution to your dilemma is this..." Victor unruffled the map

Takashi looked at the well-detailed map of Alaska. The map was filled with markings showing mines of gold littered across the place. Not just gold but many other essential resources Japan is starved for which is the prime reason behind the need for Japan to be a colonial power.

"But how can we acquire Alaska when it is a British territory." Takashi asked confused

"It is a common misconception that I can explain. Alaska is not entirely British territory. They have only the borders close to their colony in Canada under British control and even then the border is fluid and up for debate as they are not that much interested in it. The land in the map you see is under Russian control but we only use that land for one purpose." Victor let it hang

"For what…." Takashi was intrigued

"It was commonly used for Political exile or for imprisonment. After the unification of Siberia to the Empire, we managed to learn about the lands across the sea but already Russia was too big for the Tsar to rule. But towards the beginning of the 16th century, Prince Stephen Romanov led a group of young explorers to the land beyond the sea. The natives were very hostile for some reason but he was adamant in exploring the place. Unfortunately, the prince was killed by the natives, for what exactly we don't know but his sister Princess Ekaterina Romanov led a huge host to avenge her brother. She managed to decimate the natives and began to conquer the place to the furthest boundaries she could at that time." Victor took a sip of the sake and saw that he had captured the interest of Takashi. So he continued...

"Knee-deep in the blood of so many innocent people she lost her will for further conquest and stopped. To atone for the sins she committed she undertook a self-imposed exile in Alaska. She asked the Tsar of Russia who was her cousin to never take this piece of land into the Empire ever as it would bring her own sin upon the rest of the Royal family. Even her body was entombed in Alaska. So even if Alaska is under our control we have never made it official as it is the will of a Romanov. Their words are second only to the holy angel that forged this Empire." Victor finished the tale

"Then why is it that the British are claiming Alaska to be a part of their colony in Canada." Takashi asked as he finished the sake. Victor poured more into the bowl as he spoke.

"In a way, the people of Canada can lay a claim to Alaska because the natives that fled Alaska under the war unleashed by Ekaterina eventually settled in Canada. There is another reason as well. After the independence of the US from British rule, they asked for the territory in 1867. Britain blocked that move as Britain and the US had fought a war in 1812. If Alaska was purchased Canada could be invaded from two sides. Russia had a normal but tentative relationship with the US and the Tsar of that time didn't want to create unnecessary bad blood so the decision was entirely left to the British Crown. So quite naturally the American dreams of purchasing Alaska went up in smoke. The rumours of Britain having Alaska began to spread and we didn't bother to correct it. In short, if the Empire of Japan desired Alaska we can sell it for a price of course." Victor smiled lightly

"Ah, of course, a price…." Takashi looked intrigued

"But a much-reduced price in return for a series of long-standing agreements in trade, military purchase, exchange of technology and some other cooperation in mutually interesting fields. A detailed copy is with me for your government and Emperor Taisho to study." Victor picked up a file from his side and gave it to Takashi.

The prime minister of Japan went through some of the agreements quickly and said: "I will present it to the Emperor and the government." Takashi privately thought this deal would be able to take the military off his back as he was not well-liked by them because of his soft policies in Korea.

"Please take the map as well. I am sure it will greatly help you in the home." Victor stood up and shook hands with Takashi

"Thank you, Chancellor. Perhaps you would be amendable for a visit to Japan in the future." Takashi asked

"Perhaps if the purchase goes through then we can sign it in Japan." Victor proposed as he walked the prime minister to his car

"Indeed. Let's hope so." Takashi said as he entered the spacious car that was provided by the Russian government to take him to the Moscow Railway station where a special high-speed train was waiting to take him through Siberia.

Victor Vasiliev smiled in satisfaction as he sat behind his desk in his official residence in Moscow. Alaska was a silent problem in Russian politics as the government was of the mind to either use it or to get rid of the place. Now that was almost possible as he had already secured the votes for selling the colony to Japan from the senate and the emperor had already given the go for his 'Look to Asia' policy. The OKB research wing did help him to convince the Emperor of this major political shift and he was planning to increase their funding in the coming year. He always takes care of his friends.

**XXXXXXX **

Dimitry Ivanov was walking towards his apartment in Tsargrad after purchasing some groceries for this night. The young 20-year-old orphan was now a medical student in St. Stephen's College of Medical Science under a scholarship. Dimitry entered his apartment and closed his door and switched on the light. But as he turned he saw a person holding a gun at him sitting on a chair at the middle of his hall.

"Put down the bag and keys and raise your hands slowly. Don't try anything smart or I will put a bullet through your head." The man ordered

Dimitry obeyed without protest and he asked the million Rubles question "Who are you? What do you want?"

"That's what I would like to ask you, boy. Who are you?" The man asked

"I am Dimitry Ivanov." Dimitry replied

"Are you really? The Dimitry Ivanov I know is dead for quite some time. He died in an accident with a batch of his orphan mates when the bus he travelled crashed into a wall. There was only one survivor from that crash and he is certainly not Dimitry Ivanov. So I will ask again, who are you?" The man with the gun pointed at his face asked

"I see. The OKB has expanded well beyond my expectations if you have found my fake documentation and paper trail I left. Before I tell you who I am, can you please tell me how you found out I was not Dimitry." Dimitry asked

"Let's just say we have a unique and fast method of cross-referencing every spec of information we gather in a highly efficient and accurate manner. Tell me, who are you? Why did you impersonate a dead boy?" the man asked

"Oh, you have even managed to advance the software and hardware of computer systems enough to cross-reference a huge amount of data and use it for the internal security of the Empire. I am impressed." Dimitry said with a proud smile

The OKB agent stood up in alarm as his target spouted classified technology and information like he was discussing the weather. "Who are you boy? Who do you work for? How do you know all this?"

"I know because I helped in creating almost everything around you." The 'fake Dimitry' said and before the eyes of the OKB agent, his target shapeshifted and became covered in silver armour with wings unfolding behind from the back.

"Stephen the Angel….?" The OKB agent murmured in a daze and dropped his gun in fear and awe

"Hmm… That's an old name. Call me **Ego**" Ego said with a slight smirk


	10. Uncle Joe is the best

"I cannot still believe my eyes. You are the ancient angel that unified and created the Empire from scratch and has been helping us by taking different forms throughout the history of the empire." Andrey Ivanovich, the OKB agent asked in wonder as he was sitting opposite to the said angel in a modest restaurant

"Keep your voice down, will you. The people will think you are mad." Ego/Dimitry whispered heatedly

"But still to be in your presence is a great honour angel Stephen." Andrey said with reverence

Just then the food arrived and the waiter served them Schi and a Golubtsy each. Ego took a spoonful of the soup and tasted it lightly.

"Good as always Uncle Joe." Ego/Dimitry said

"Who is your friend?" Uncle Joe asked

"This is Andrey Ivanov, a senior student in my college. Andrey, this is Joseph Stalin commonly known around here as Uncle Joe. He is the best cook in the city of Tsargrad. This joint is just one of his establishments. There are many others throughout the city which are all run by his wife Atara Blum. Uncle Joe is from Caucasus but met his wife to be and fell in love. Now he is here in Tsargrad where the highest population of Jewish people could be found in the world with a Jewish wife. A real romantic story worth making a film and I guarantee it will be a real success." Ego/Dimitry said with a large smile

"Don't go and spread my life story around Dimitry. Enjoy your dinner both of you." Uncle Joe returned back to take orders from a nearby table

"I still can't believe all those stories were real. If you are real then heaven and hell are also real." Andrey said with awe and a hint of fear

"Don't get too much worked up you fool. Who said I am an angel?" Ego/Dimitry asked as he began to take small sips of the soup

"What do you mean? Of course, you are the angel Stephen. I saw your wings with my own eyes." Andrey looked indignant

"Your people called me an angel. I am not someone from your mythical heaven." Ego/Dimitry said

"Then what are you?" Where are you from?" Andrey asked as his training kicked in to extract maximum information

"I would call myself a Celestial. The Celestials are an intergalactic species that were present before the creation of this universe you inhabit. Even the life on your planet was started by the actions of a cousin of mine." Ego/Dimitry explained breaking the little bubble of reality humans exist

"So you are saying that the human race is born from a Celestial." Andrey asked shocked

"No. I said life started on this planet by a Celestial. He nurtured and nourished the life in this s planet and resulted in your evolution. It is not a unique thing as most of the species scattered across the planets of this vast universe are created by the Celestials." Ego/Dimitry said with a shrug

"You mean to tell me that there are living beings existing in other planets in space." Andrey asked pointing to the sky

"Well yes. You are not alone in this vast universe. There are many empires and planets that span across the rest of the universe like Asgard, Xandar, Jotunheim, Kree Empire and so many more and each filled with different species." Ego/Dimitry explained

"I have so many questions to ask you but I think it would be better if you would answer them in the presence of OKB commander." Andrey said as he took out a small metallic pad and pressed his thumb on its surface and a keyboard came alive on its surface and Andrey began to type a message discretely.

"The OKB managed to create a pager out of the Vibranium in such a short time as well. It can be very useful in espionage works, impressive." Ego/Dimitry commented

Andrey looked ready to spit out the soup in surprise as another closely guarded secret was shown in his face.

"At this point, I should not be surprised you know everything about us but I can't help myself." Andrey bemoaned

Ego/Dimitry laughed lightly as he looked at the OKB agent. By the time they finished the lunch, a car pulled over near the joint and picked them up.

**XXXXXXX**

"I cannot believe there was such a mystery behind our previous head of the OKB. But I always felt there was more to the story of my bold boss." OKB commander

"You always had good instincts, which is the reason why I recommended your name for leading the OKB." Ego said

"Whatever you are you must realize that you are in an impenetrable place. There is no way you can go outside from this room. So tell me everything about yourself." OKB commander ordered

"Hmm...A room that is lined with Vibranium the strongest metal on earth. Do you think that such a metal just popped out of nowhere? I was the one that filled the lands of Russia with this metal boy. Don't think you can threaten me with such cheap parlour tricks. Everything and anything this land enjoy is my gift and it can be taken away in an instant." Ego stood up as the room dissolved around them as he manipulated the very structure of Vibranium. The OKB agents panicked but they didn't go for their weapon as they were taught from a young age to always respect the angel that forged their vast Empire.

"I am sorry if I offended you but you must understand our position. Your existence and revelations are ground shattering for us." the OKB commander tried to calm Ego.

"So long as you don't threaten me we will get along just fine. As for the information that you need on the wider galaxy I can provide you that." Ego said as he took out a small flash drive and presented it to one of the agents.

"What is this?" the OKB commander asked

"A flash drive that contains all the data that you need to know. Oh, I forgot you have yet to create such sleek memory drives. The information about their creation and several other gadgets are locked behind a password and saved in the databanks that I left while I was leading OKB." Ego formed a thin strip of paper within his hand and gave it to the OKB commander.

"Trust me you will enjoy the info there." Ego said

"You are the founding father of this empire and I am guessing you have been active all these years helping us from the shadows. What can we do for you?" OKB commander asked

"In many ways, you all are my children and I have only one command for you. Change the world." Ego said as he disappeared in a flash of light

The OKB agents looked at the spot where the Celestial inhabited with a blank expression.

"No one will speak of this day. Am I understood." The OKB commander ordered

"Yes, sir." The agents in the room agreed and they were startled as the Vibranium room restored to its previous dimensions.

**XXXXXXX**

While Ego was trolling the OKB agents with his antics the Japanese Prime Minister was waiting for the Emperor of Japan to arrive. Suddenly the door opened and instead of Emperor Taisho Prince Hirohito entered the room and Prime Minister Takashi bowed before the young man as he was sure this was the future emperor of Japan.

"Greetings, Prince Hirohito. I was expecting the Emperor, my prince." Takashi still bowed his head until the Prince sat down.

"Father is very ill. For now, I am taking over some small duties to alleviate some of his burdens. You are here for a reason Prime Minister. Say what you have to say." Prince Hirohito asserted his authority

"As you know recently I have visited the Russian Empire to sign a strategic naval treaty. But this is not the case as I was there by the Emperor's wish to seek support against the Americans near our shores." Takashi explained

"So, were you successful Prime Minister? Have you secured Russian support in the event of an invasion upon the Philippines? "Prince Hirohito asked

"The Emperor strictly forbade such military adventurism but he did ask to secure Russian support in the event of a war that Japan did not start. To that end, I have managed to secure the Russian Chancellor's consent as well as something that will ensure the expansion of our great and noble empire." Takashi pitched up to the obviously military-minded prince

"Expansion of the Empire….?" The Prince asked in interest

"Yes, my prince. If the Emperor and the government are in agreement we will be able to acquire Alaska as a colony for Japan. The details are here with me…" Takashi handed over the file he had about the purchase to the Prince as well as the detailed map the Chancellor had gifted him.

The Prince read the reports by Japanese experts and some of the translated Russian documents with keen interest. Takashi observed the Prince and he knew this young man despised him and the democratic government that he represents. He also knew the Prince desired Japan to be an aggressive power in the world stage to take what they want without thinking about the consequences of such action. He knew many among his own government and those outside resented his policies. The monarchists consider him a socialist while the socialist considers him a coward as he is not doing enough. Only he knew the pressure he was under with a sick Emperor and those power grabbing fools who he was sure would lead this empire to a disastrous ruin. The purchase of Alaska, if it comes through, will be a golden opportunity as it would prove the value of diplomacy over rampant Militarism. Such Militarism may have worked well before but the world was changing fast and Japan needed to consider such changes before taking such chances. Right now the world powers were divided and Japan must use this divide politically to become a great power to replace the colonial powers of Europe. The world was now mostly influenced by Russia and the US. Britain is lagging behind them and after that France. Germany would have been in the third position but their military adventures destroyed their chance and Japan now took their open spot.

"The Americans are our enemy, there is no doubt about that my prince. But as of now, it will be foolish to think we can defeat them in the field. Perhaps we can achieve a naval victory over them with great preparation but we don't have the army or the resources to invade their home. So we need to defeat them in a different way. For that, we need to strengthen the economy of our empire. That is the only way that will yield results and absolute victory. You yourself know we were never that much liked by the European powers even if we helped them in the Great War. A war against a western power like US will see us isolated. Until we have resources to fight such a war we must be cautious and Alaska is our way forward in such a step." Takashi carefully presented his view to the prince.

The Prince looked up from his readings and observed the prime minister and went back to observing the detailed map of Alaska. In the end, the Prince promised to support such a venture to Takashi's relief.

In 1921 Prince Hirohito became the prince regent and in this special occasion, the Chancellor of Russia was also present as a guest and the very next day in the Imperial Diet of Japan the Russian Chancellor transferred Alaska into Japan's control officially. The Diet also became a witness for the signing of several treaties that ensured friendship and cooperation of the two powers in education, farming, irrigation, security and many other fields. It also bared witness for the transfer of a Russian built Aircraft carrier with a displacement of 27,000 tons and a speed of 33 knots to the IJN. It was one of the most advanced carriers at that time and it sent shockwaves to the Americans by the double slap they received in a single day.

One more important event happened on this auspicious day. The Prince regent became easily charmed by the Russian Chancellor and a staunch friendship was forged between these two personalities on the basis of mutual respect and a shared passion to see their respective nations flourish. It was a friendship that changed the fate of Imperial Japan and their ascendance as an undisputed world power.

**XXXXXXX**

The Ancient one was stirring her favourite tea absently as she was lost in thought. A portal opened in front of her and the person of her concern stepped out of it.

"I was thinking of visiting you this day but seems it will be unnecessary." She said as she invited Ego to sit opposite to her

"If that's the case your battery must be recharged fortunately I came prepared." Ego said as he threw several Vibranium containers that had his stored energy.

"So you didn't forget about me. I thought you did with your little games you are playing here." The Ancient One teased lightly as she secured the secret behind her immortality in her robes

"How could I forget about you, my dear friend? After all, you are the only person in this universe who truly knows me." Ego shrugged lightly

"That's true." She said as she created another tea and gave it to Ego who happily too it,

"Have there been any problems with Dormammu." Ego asked as he savours the pleasant taste of the tea

"He is angry there are no doorways that he could exploit now that he does not have his energy running through my body. He occasionally tests the strength of the barrier we have forged across the world. To his shame, he has yet to breach it but he is not that much of a threat." The Ancient One paused hesitantly and Ego noticed this

"So there is a threat that you are facing right now. Tell me about it. Maybe I can be of some help." Ego offered his help

"You should know that the Celestials fell into civil war a long time ago and their children who were worshipped as gods also took sides. The end result was the extinction of Celestials except yourself and a few gods that were too stubborn to die. History hardly remembers as gods as humans tend to demonize anything that opposes them as Asuras(demons)." the Ancient One explained

"Asuras? You are referring to the Indo-Aryan mythical beings that are their version of demons." Ego asked interested

"Indeed. After the war, many Asuras escaped and this order has been tasked to hunt down such beings but we have run into a special case. After the war between Pandavas who were the children of gods and Kauravas who were born using occult power the avatar of God Vishnu cursed one of the allies of Kauravas for assassinating the children of Pandavas for eternal life with an unhealed wound on his forehead. That guy has somehow found a way to heal that wound by the healing properties he achieved by drinking from the waters of Shangri-La." The Ancient One explained

"So what…? You can still destroy him easily. No amount of eternal water is going to save him if his body is destroyed." Ego pointed out

"The problem is he has a special kind of armour that has been gifted by the Sun god to his son in the Kurukshetra war. It negates all magical powers. In short, my powers have no effect on him. That's why I was hoping you would help. That armour could not be pierced by any weapons that are in existence. You may be the only person that can wound him. Will you help us?" the Ancient One asked

"Well, I have nothing much to do. So where is the little bugger?" Ego stood up ready to go for a hunt

"He is in India. More specifically he is in Goa." The Ancient One informed her eager friend

"Goa..? What is he doing there? Sunbathing…." Ego laughed at his joke

"That's exactly what he is doing. Good luck." The Ancient One said as she went about her affairs leaving a stunned Celestial in her room.

"I was expecting the guy was torturing some poor soul. Perhaps he had a change of heart and decided to enjoy his life. Let's see." Ego murmured to himself and decided to go to his previous home. The land of spices is about to get a very special visitor.


	11. Meeting with an ancient warrior

Ashwathama made himself comfortable in the white sands of Goa. For centuries he had been roaming the world with a wound that would never heal, invisible to all and all his occult powers locked away by the curse of Lord Krishna. As centuries passed the curse began to lose it's potency as all the divine entities fell in the Celestial war. That was both a curse and a blessing. He had almost given up hope to escape this fate but after he saw all the heavens collapsed around the world he hoped the curse on him will also get released. Sadly that never happened and he had to wait for a long time to overcome the curse. By that time he had found the Shangri-La and was waiting for the curse to lose up.

After centuries of waiting the curse began to lose its hold on him and he immediately immersed himself in the divine waters of Shangri-La. The effects were immediate as his powers were restored to its peak condition. In fact, the curse proved to be useful as well because he retained the immortality that came with the curse. He had cried for seven days as he began to feel centuries of emotions began to pour out from his soul and mind. The senses that were denied to him became accessible to him once more which was overwhelming but somehow he managed to hold on to his mental faculties. From Shangri-La he went straight to the Himalayas where he began to meditate and centre himself to the new world he found himself in. The curse never allowed him to interact with the world around him for thousands of years. The only reason he could feel the destruction of gods was because he was intrinsically tied to their divine energies through the curse. Now that it is lifted he felt as if he was stepping into a new reality itself and he needed to balance his mind so as not to lose control. He stayed there for three months and after he was sure that he had achieved necessary discipline he travelled his home country.

What he found there was total chaos. He had hoped despite his enmity with the Pandavas they would have created a just and stable rule for the nation and he was sure within a few years the whole subcontinent would flock under their banners. But by the looks of it, that was not what happened. So he began to search for what happened and low and behold he found that his life along with that of his allies and enemies were written down and was very much popular in the local culture. He learned all this when he engaged in a conversation with a local priest in the Badrinath temple which was near the Himalayas. Seeing as he knew only Sanskrit and never any other language it was very difficult for him to go around the country without any touch with the local languages.

Still, he was not a fool and he picked up several languages as he wandered the subcontinent seeing different places. From North to south he travelled saw the state his country was. People were living in abject poverty as he had ever seen. Most of them were treated as little better than slaves everywhere by these white devils who styled themselves as some great civilisation but their actions contradicted their claims by a huge margin. His countrymen were no better as he saw the twisting of the caste system to its most horrible format. The caste system that was in his time was actually fluid in nature as people could migrate to different castes if they had the necessary skills required for it. The qualification for each caste was knowledge and it was not decided on birth and this was why his friend Karna was held in great regard by him and his allies but the Pandavas hated his friend simply because he was more skilled than Arjuna.

Along his long journey, he encountered strange humans that practised the occult arts and they were hell-bent on killing him or just capturing him alive. He valued his freedom more than anything in the world and he was not going to roll over and show his belly to these fools so he went back North all the while he defeated or killed anyone that tried to interfere with him. He went straight to Delhi which was where the old Indraprastha city once stood and he tracked down the armour of Karna from the old ruins that were buried under the earth. It was easy for him as he had several occult powers himself after he had taken in the divine powers from the waters of Shangri-La. Even after thousands of years the armour still worked perfectly enough. It had lost some it's raw strength but it was still capable of protecting him from any magical attacks.

With the armour around him, he became invulnerable and he could easily defeat the sorcerers that were after him. After a while, the sorcerers began to leave him alone and he was happy with that but he still could not see what to do from here on out. He again wandered around some more visiting temples and historical sights that were denied to him previously. Somehow he found himself in the Portuguese controlled Goa.

He found the same situation here as well. Forced conversions and ban on local languages were the norm of Portuguese rule. Complete ban on native cultural practices and forced servitude in many cases that left the local population in a depressed state. He didn't know what to do after seeing all this happening around his homeland. On one hand, this land was what he had fought for in the war and he had a responsibility to it to see that it is ruled by its own people rather than these foreigners who were exploiting this land. There was another voice that made him apathetic to the struggles of the natives as he thought they deserved it.

With no clear answer, he laid down on the sandy beach and looked up to the skies for an answer to his dilemma. His senses tingled and he sat up as the space in front of him distorted and a guy with a ridiculous smile stepped out of a glowing yellow circle. With a sigh, he stood up and decided to take care of this sorcerer as well.

"I thought you sorcerers finally decided to leave me in peace but I see that was not to be." he took summoned his divine energies as he became bathed in a cocoon of golden aura.

"Well, then it is a good thing that I am not here to fight you outright. I would like to speak to you and after that, we can decide where we go from there. Let me introduce myself. My name is Ego." the sorcerer said with a bow

"My name is Ashwathama. I didn't start this conflict with you sorcerers. Your people began to hunt me without any provocation. Why is that? What did I ever do to your people?" Ashwathama inquired

"First of all, they are not my people. I came here because I was bored and as a personal favour to one of my friends who is a sorcerer. As for why they are targeting you, it is because that's their job. The order of mistic arts is charged with neutralising any threat to the world and seeing as you once fought against the progeny of the gods they see you as a threat." Ego explained

"What do you think? Do you see me as a threat?" Ashwathama asked

"I see you as an opportunity. You are a gateway to a past that has been long forgotten. You have the power to change this land to save it or destroy it. Your actions will affect the entire world on a scale that you can't even imagine. You could become a threat but you can be so much more. Look around you and open your senses. Connect to the world around you and see the atrocities that are being committed. Your past is buried in time and now you have an opportunity to start over again. My question is will you start over and open a new page in life or are you going to cling on to your old identity and all the problems that come with it." Ego asked

"So you are asking me to somehow save the nation. For what exactly? I come from a different time and I cannot even relate to the people that are now in this land. I feel like a foreigner here." Ashwathama argued

"If that's how you feel let me take you to a remote village not far from here. I think you will find all the answers to your problem there. What do you say?" Ego suggested

"Very well." Ashwathama agreed and together they disappeared via a portal

Both of them stepped out of the portal behind the cover of several trees. Together they entered the village and they found almost a good portion of it was set ablaze while the people were running away in fear for their lives. As they walked further in they saw the Portuguese soldiers burning the small houses of the farmers and other villagers. Some of the men were about to be hanged right in the middle of the village. Some of the women were being raped while the children were being thrown into the fire.

"Look around you Ashwathama. Do you think human nature has changed a little bit even after thousands of years? They are still animalistic in nature and has yet to embrace true humanity. These people that are suffering need help and you can provide that help." Ego pitched his opinion

"I have committed worse crimes. I have killed children in the past. So what right do I have to punish the people who commit the same mistakes I did. What right do I have to judge them?" Ashwathama asked

"You are right. You don't have the right to judge them but you have every right to protect the common people. You have every right to save the women, children and men of this land. When you raise your weapon for those who can't defend themselves then a spark of divinity is born inside you. When you realise and feel that spark within you, you will finally achieve peace. The sin you have committed in the past is there but is it going to hold you back for the rest of your life. You decide." Ego said and he observed the internal battle that was going on with Ashwathama.

Suddenly Ashwathama raised his hand and gathered the meagre divine energy that he had. He had tried this many times before but every time he failed to summon the divine weapons because of his connection to the elder gods were cut off after the curse and despite being restored most of his powers in the Shangri-La this was one thing he was unable to do. Like all the times before the divine energy appeared in his hands but it refused to take the form of his favoured weapons. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he was filled with tremendous energy that began to enrich his own divine energy. Within seconds a bow formed in his hands and he looked at Ego with complete surprise.

"You are a God!" Ashwathama declared with a touch of incredulity

"If you think it that way then I am one but personally I don't like that designation. So now you have your weapon. You can help the weak become strong or you can destroy everything around you within a matter of seconds. You are at a crossroads that will decide your future. Make your choice. Will that weapon provide hope or will it unleash unimaginable pain and misery." Ego asked as he stepped away from Ashwathama

Ashwathama looked at the destruction around him and came to a decision. He aimed his bow in the general direction of the Portuguese soldiers who now took notice of their presence. Before they could shoot using the guns Ashwathama drew the string of the bow and blue energy began to form and took the shape of an arrow. Without any hesitation, he released the arrow and it began to multiply and sought out every Portuguese soldier wherever they stood and claimed their lives. He shot another arrow into the sky which dissolved into the clouds and suddenly rain began to fall on the village putting off the fire within minutes.

"You have chosen wisely. You will no longer be disturbed by the order of mystic arts." Ego said as he created a portal using his sling ring

"You are leaving?" Ashwathama asked

"I see no reason to stay. You have everything in control and I trust you." Ego said

"Will we meet again?" Ashwathama asked

"We will meet again and I hope that's when this nation is free from the shackles that are holding it back." with that said Ego stepped into the portal and disappeared from the village leaving Ashwathama with a flabbergasted populace

**XXXX**

Ego stepped into the training arena of Kamar Taj and found the Ancient One training some of the new students. He walked closer to her at a sedate pace.

"Master Chen you may take over." said the Ancient One as she walked with Ego to one of the corners of the arena

"So you must have had an interesting conversation with Ashwathama. So how did it go?" The Ancient One asked

"If you wanted to play it as a good cop bad cop the least you could have done was to warn me." Ego looked at her pointedly

"I trusted your instincts. You have an innate knack for turning people around and I can see that trust was not misplaced." the Ancient One smiled

"Anyway just don't send any more sorcerers after him but keep an eye on him nonetheless." Ego advised

"Will do. So, do you want to have a spar?" the Ancient One asked

"Never said no to that." Ego smirked and together they entered the mirror dimension

**XXXX 1921 RUSSIAN EMPIRE XXXX**

The OKB chief was now sitting in the chambers of the Chancellor waiting for the man to show up. The door opened and the Chancellor walked in and took his seat.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, commander. You may proceed." Viktor said and gave his full attention

"You asked to look into a way to weaken the British and French hold over their overseas colonies. Well, I think we have something that has the potential to make a move on India." The OKB commander reported

"Now you have me curious. The French are being very ungrateful players as they have just rolled into the Ruhr without informing us. They just expect us to bear with it while they are destroying Germany from within. This is a ripe time for all the hardliners and communists to take over the republic government in Germany. I have yet to contact Britain but I am sure they will opt for the usual drama. Anything we can hold it over them is welcomed at this time." Viktor said eagerly

"Then this is a piece of good news. There is a small portion of India that is still under the control of Portugal. But in recent months, there has been heavy fighting and the Portuguese are almost driven out of the land. They are now only in control of the coastal areas and that too is being contested as we speak. Intervention in Goa will not be acting against British India and at the same time we can access a part of it that can be supported to fight the British empire from within." the OKB commander explained

"Say that our ships enter the coasts of Goa. What do you suggest we do?" Viktor asked curiously

"Strongarm the Portuguese to surrender by a blockade or make them sit down and negotiate with the locals. We play the mediator and we screw over the Portuguese while ensuring full support for the locals." the OKB commander advised

"The British are also going to try that. They would also be looking to take the whole pie for themselves. We need to make contact with the local rebellion before we commit to anything. Can we safely do that?" Viktor asked

"We can establish contact through the Orthodox church. There are several churches there as well as several hospitals and schools that function under our church. We still have access to our churches there. I have heard the natives have burned down several other churches but our churches were left alone." the OKB commander suggested

"That was probably because they fed the population while they were being starved to death by creating famines and ethnic cleansing that has become the standard for all colonial powers. Anyway, establish contact with the rebels and promise them support. We will proceed further if we get a positive response." Viktor ordered

"As you wish sir." OKB commander nodded and left the office

With that meeting over Viktor looked at the file on his desk. Seeing as it had the insignia of the governer of Israel he immediately opened the file and as he read further a small smile came to his face. It was an invitation for the inauguration of a Jewish temple and the Russian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. He was sure the emperor must have also received an invitation and a joint presence was always good in functions like this. He had several plans regarding Israel and Jerusalem itself and this was a perfect opportunity to discuss such matters. He couldn't wait to visit the holy land once again. He had once visited the place when he was young but this would be the first as Chancellor of the Russian Empire.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Sorry for the long wait guys and many of you guys were asking me to do this so here it is. With the way, I ended the last chapter you guys must have expected an epic battle. Sorry about that. That was my plan but as I wrote this chapter a thought entered my mind.**

**The guy must have somewhat changed after thousands of years. If you know some of the stories surrounding Ashwathama he was a stellar scholar and an honourable warrior. It was towards the end of the war he became a maniac. Can't blame the guy as he was the only one standing and he had to watch his entire family and friends die in the war. So I decided to cut him some slack here. Hope you don't mind.**

**Now Russia is gearing for their penetration into India. What will happen? Stay tuned to find out.**


	12. The Empire strikes back

**AN: Sorry for the delay. This chapter is entirely political in nature. Don't complain to me I didn't warn you but this is sort of essential for the type of world that Earth becomes after WW2. I know this is boring some of you but bear with me or don't. Your choice.**

**XXXXXX**

**India 1922**

Ashwathama now largely known by the name of Indrajith Rao was leading an army of 5000 men and even some women to Dodamarg as he had received reports of British army gathering there for a push into Goa. He had expected the British Empire to make a play for Goa but he was expecting their attack after he had managed to expel the Portuguese from the mainland. The British must have realised the danger that he posed as his war for independence was going to spread among the Maratha people and reinvigorate the dream of King Shivaji's self-rule.

Actually, that was his plan as Goa shared borders with the Maratha speaking land and when the people see his saffron flag carrying a golden Sun they were going to rise up in rebellion. Unfortunately, he was not able to dislodge the Portuguese from the coastal areas as they were hiding behind fortified positions and under the cover of artillery weapons. He could have taken them out but the number of casualties would be too high and would leave Goa vulnerable to a British attack.

Thankfully there were allies that he could count on and as per the instructions of the Orthodox Church, he had sneaked several of his men with Church officials in a Russian ship to speak in the Russian Senate on behalf of the people. The Church had further helped by smuggling in weapons and several intelligence officers into Goa to help in the war effort. The Church has also gathered evidence of atrocities committed by the Portuguese and British empire carefully recorded using cameras. All of this evidence has also been sent to be presented in the Russian senate and European media at large. All of this was shipped off to Russia along with a formal request for aid in supporting the formation of a democratic government and recognising said government.

He theorized if everything plays out well his men would make their appeal in the Russian senate and by that time he would shatter the British forces and link up with pro-independence groups in the North. The rest will be in the hands of fate.

**XXXXXX RUSSIAN EMPIRE XXXXXX**

The Russian Senate was abuzz with activity as a special session has been called by the Chancellor. The senate was dominated by the Progressive party at this time and was led by Khristina Verenich. There were two important events to be presented today and Khristina as the majority leader was asked by the Chancellor to ensure the session must achieve the strategic objectives set by his policy. She had yet to let down her mentor and she was not to do that now of all times.

"Senator Khristina Verenich you have the floor." The President of the house said

She took a deep breath and stood up from her seat and addressed the ruling body of the Empire

"Thank you, honourable president. I would like to draw the attention of the esteemed members of this house to the recently built Jewish temple and Orthodox Church in the city of Jerusalem. It was inaugurated by our Emperor at the Christmas Eve on the presence of our esteemed Chancellor." Khristina paused as the senate became filled with thunderous applause by her colleagues showing their support and she was happy to observe even her rival party members we're also supporting the event albeit passively

"It was after this event our beloved Emperor suggested to turn the Holy Land into a grand place of worship. The emperor wishes to build temples of other faiths in the Holy Land making the city of Jerusalem a safe haven for other faiths and a place to reserve different cultures of our world. So I am proposing the formation of a committee to study the possibility of creating such a grand city." She finished her proposal and sat down as the senate dissolved into murmur and shouting matches

"I second the motion." One of her colleagues supported and with a clear majority of the Progressive party the motion was passed easily

"I will appoint the members of the committee before the session is closed today. Now let's move on to the second order of business…" the President looked at her pointedly

"The second order of business is regarding a plea submitted to our Chancellor and Emperor for the formal recognition of Goa. The land in question is in British India which is under Portuguese control. In the last 8 months, the native population has pushed the Portuguese out of the mainland and has taken control. They have requested our aid in expelling the Portuguese occupation." Khristina informed the senate and the senators of opposition began to make a ruckus

"This is a reckless interference, Mr President. If we interfere in India in any way we will be in direct conflict with the British empire. This kind of reckless foreign adventurism will only lead to war." One of the senators of United Peoples Party argued and many voices joined in to support this point

"I am not proposing we take action against British India. What I am suggesting is taking action against the Portuguese forces in the coasts of Goa. We have all seen the actions of Belgium in Congo and the Portuguese are not far off the mark. I have proof." With that said Katherine and her fellow senators began to distribute all the records that have been collected by Russian agents detailing the cruel acts of Portuguese occupation. It had the intended effect as any opposition quieted themselves and she continued where she left off

"If the senate agrees we can give the Portuguese an ultimatum and our fleets on Oman coast can be silently used as a threat to make them come to the table. Everybody here knows that there has been persistent warnings and complaints from the Orthodox churches in Goa in the last few decades. It is time that we heed their call and liberate the natives from oppression." Katherine finished speaking and let the others handle the rest of the session. In the end after going to and forth the motion passed and the Chancellor could now work to make a foothold in India.

**XXXXXX**

"The Senate has agreed to my proposal. Now before we give an ultimatum to the Portuguese I want to know whether our forces are able to respond if necessary and take Goa by force?" Victor asked the Commander in chief of the Imperial Russian Navy

"We have the aircraft carrier Hannibal along with 4 destroyers and 2 battleships in Oman. Should Portugal refuse to heed the Empire's warning we will be able to launch an attack that will crush the Portuguese presence in Goa. Even if British forces intervene we can win a swift victory." General Alexander Sukhomlinov reported with confidence

"I hope it will not come to that. There are some other options available to me. The emperor as given permission for imposing sanctions on Portugal in case they reject our terms. If that fails to persuade them I need your men to be ready General. Can I count on the Imperial Navy?" Victor asked

"The Navy has kept Russia safe from Ottoman invasions all these years. The Navy is ready to punish Russia's enemies Chancellor." General Sukhomlinov promised

**XXXXXXX**

**The New York Times June 1922**

**"In a move that shook the British Empire and Portugal, the Russian Chancellor has given an ultimatum to Portugal to either leave Goa in India or surrender to the independence movement of the natives. This move comes after the revelations of gross violence and ethnic cleansing being perpetrated by Portuguese colonial forces as well as British Raj in the Indian subcontinent."**

**"Portugal is a proud European nation and will not be bullied by the Bear of Europe, says Prime Minister Francisco Cunha Leal." **

**Daily Herald June 192**

**"British Prime Minister Bonar Law calls for peace between Portugal and the Russian Empire."**

**"In a rapid turn of events, the native forces of Goa has decimated the British army that tried to launch an attack into the borders of Portuguese held Goa. The loss of life is estimated to be above 3000. While officials in the colonial office reports that there is no need for panic the fact of the matter is that there is a fear that another mutiny may be imminent. The close proximity of Goa to the Maratha speaking land is also a cause for concern for the Raj forces."**

**"Labour party leader Ramsay Macdonald blames Prime Minister Bonar Law and the Conservative Party's foreign policy for the recent hostile actions taken by the Russian Empire. Further explaining this matter the minority leader of the House of Commons had this to say, **

**'The foreign policy of the Conservative party is to stab in the back of one of our oldest and strongest allies. Instead of ensuring peace in Europe the Conservative government is interested in starving out Germany with huge debts that all of us know they can't pay. This will only lead to further conflicts and God forbid war in central Europe. This is why the Russian government has repeatedly asked France and Belgium to vacate the Ruhr which is outside the allied occupational area of Rhineland. In fact, several reports indicate there have been repeated killings of German civilians by French and Belgian armies. These actions will only incite more violence in the future and I don't want any more British citizens to lose their sons, fathers and brothers because of military adventures of France and Belgium. It is my hope that this government deal with our allies in good faith and honour the treaties signed to promote peace rather than court war. Our government have violated the agreement made with the Russians regarding Germany and the Russians, in turn, have violated the agreement in India. This time the people of Britain will know the truth rather than the lies the Conservative government fed us about German atrocities in Belgium to pursue the Great War. This time the people will reject the lies of Conservatives and embrace the truth.'**

**Prime Minister Bonar Law refused to comment on the ongoing struggle between London and Moscow."**

**Russia Today June 1922**

**"Chancellor Vasiliev has signed the orders to impose economic sanctions on Portugal until Portuguese forces stop the illegal occupation of Goa. Sources within the Russian government says as a first step all imports and exports from Portugal baring medical supplies are henceforth banned in the Russian empire until the crisis is resolved." **

**"The secretary-general of League of Nations Sir Eric Drummond has called the representatives of both Portugal and Russian Empire to resolve their issues peacefully."**

Ego smiled broadly as he read the various news reports from local newspapers and foreign ones. He never envisioned things would go this way when he confronted Ashwathama in Goa but he was not complaining at the results. He was also curious what will happen in his old homeland now that there was a resurgent independence movement that was very different from what Gandhi led in his own world.

Frankly, he should have done something about his old homeland a little early in his learned opinion. The only reason that he didn't do anything was because he could not find anyone that had a chance of success in uniting the subcontinent. But now he didn't have to worry about Britain as that would be Ashwathama's job. He had very detailed plans for Europe and colonial powers have no future in Europe that he was building.

Ego could have simply unified entire Europe if he really wished but being an all-powerful godlike being made everything so simple and boring. That is why he decided to take the long route by slowly building up a base of power over many years. He had managed to build extensive contacts across the European continent and invested heavily in several pocket organizations that were sharpening their knives for a quick take over at the opportune moment. Even before the first World War he had fanned the idea of a United Europe and had a very dedicated following to this idea even though they were a minority. But after the first World War, this idea was gaining extensive traction among several individuals. In fact, the existence of this liberal faction helped to smooth over the formation of League of Nations.

It was thanks to Ego's extensive contacts and political manoeuvring that made it possible for this recent piece of news that had taken the French into a boiling rage. He sipped his lemon tea and began to read another prominent article.

**Russia Today June 1922**

**"In a move that shook much of Europe Chancellor Victor Vasiliev and German Chancellor Joseph Virth have come to an agreement regarding the recent decision by the League of Nations to partition upper Silesia against the will of the majority of residents. The Russian chancellor has agreed to use his veto powers to block the move and also to extend a helping hand to Germany in the form of several trade concessions. Sources inside trade ministry confirm that Baltic Sea trade routes will be opened up to facilitate easy access for Germany and with reduced tariffs until the German economy is restored. This move comes right after the formation of the East European Economic Union between the Russian Empire, Serbia, Finland, Sweden, Hungary and Greece. Sources inside the Russian Senate indicates that Chancellor Vasiliev envisions that by helping Germany in time of her need will result in the entry of Germany into the union and perhaps heal the wounds left by the Great War. **

**There are rumours that the Senate is looking into pulling out of Rhineland occupation and engage in a more transparent way with Austria and Germany. Strangely enough the opposition leader Peter Khrushchev had this to say regarding the recent moves made by the Chancellor.**

**'I am happy that the Chancellor is taking a firm stand in this matter and withdraw the support to Poland. It is no secret that I have reservations against our relationship with Poland. It is well known that I oppose economic and infrastructural support that has been given to Poland after the war because I have doubts that the political elites of Poland have been funnelling the funds into their own pockets. This new stance of the Chancellor is the first step in the right direction.'**

**While foreign ministry insists that relations with Poland is strong there is no doubt that a certain coldness has seeped into the Polish-Russian diplomatic channels. This has been the case after a series of revelations hit the local media outlets of Poland about military generals and high ranking politicians owning large swaths of prime real estates in Britain. When confronted with these questions the Russian Chancellor had this to say,**

**'The decision to support Germany has no bearing on whatsoever with Russia's relationship with Poland. Having said that I can confirm that an investigation has been launched regarding the misappropriation of funds given by Russian Empire to Poland. As the saying goes 'Innocent until proven guilty' applies in this situation. **

**My decision to support Germany come from two factors. One is that the people of Silesia have voted in a clear majority to remain as part of Germany. The other fact is that taking Silesia away will destabilize the Republic government of Germany and put an unbearable strain on the German people. The actions of France and Belgium with British support will only push Europe into conflict in the future. I have no intention of being held responsible for such a travesty. So it is my hope that Germany remains stable and unified despite the illegal occupation of French and Belgian army in Ruhr.**

**Russia fought the German Reich in the Great War, not the German Republic. It is time for Western Allies to realise that the hatred they hold against the German Republic is undoing the hard earn peace in Europe. It is my humble request to our Western allies to embrace peace rather than fall prey to the curse of hatred. I hope that France sees the folly of its actions and open dialogue with Germany rather than use force and intimidation.'**

**It is no secret that the Chancellor was dissatisfied with the actions of his French and British counterparts after the conclusion of the Great War. But this is the first time Chancellor Vasiliev has openly taking a stand against the Western allies. This open declaration has once again brought the discussions about the Versailles treaty. Volga Germans are once again getting ready petition the Emperor and the Russian government to pull out from the Versailles treaty factoring the recent events. **

**No matter what we at Russia Today feels interesting times lay ahead of Europe and it is our hope that Europe remains in peace rather than revisit the times the likes if Great War again."**

**-Valeria Pamfilova**

"Interesting times indeed." Ego smirked as he set the paper down and looked over the official paperwork for starting his own company named Chimera. Actually, he had bought off a factory that churned out automobile spare parts. He was just going to make some improvements and break into the automobile sector with a brand new car. It was not as simple as anyone thought as there was a need for a skilled workforce, tools, machines, an entirely new plant layout etc. This new project was going to make him a busy man and he loved it as his little political games on Earth was boring him to no end. Sometimes he cursed the one who sent him here for making him a Celestial. It was no fun when a snap of his fingers makes all his enemies disappear In an instant. This is the reason why he was taking things slowly but even that is getting a little boring. Maybe he should go play with the Kree or even the Shi'ar empire for some real fun.


	13. CH13: Experiments and the twin empires

**Russian Empire 1924**

The year 1924 was a special year for the Russian empire as a whole. For one, in the first month itself, the empire will be going for election. Two, the widely popular Victor Vasiliev was in the race for the office of Chancellor. It was all but certain that the man will be elected again but the Senate was going to be a tough nut to crack.

For Ego, none of this mattered as his automobile company finally became well established in the city of Tsaritsyn. The city was on the western bank of the Volga river and the highly industrious city became the hub of his operations. It was really an uphill race to recruit enough skilled workers and design the new production facility. There was also the fact that he had to expand the buildings and the facilities to accommodate the large product line that he envisioned. Thankfully he had stored a mountain of funds in various banks under different aliases. It also helps that the OKB was on his side and smoothed things over by helping him with some loans. In return, he provided them with easy access to Vibranium and helped them in developing new technology using said Vibranium. It was too much of a good deal for them to pass up so they never looked too much into his shenanigans. He had also helped them in providing extensive designs for several advanced Submarines capable of removing the icy hills that were blocking Russian interests in the North Pacific sea as well as for a new Atlantic expedition. For now, all Vibranium vessels were operated under OKB rather than the Navy because if the secrecy involved.

The first car that came out of the assembly in Ego's factory was aptly named Beetle. Seeing as he had ripped off the design of Volkswagen Beetle it was the least that he could do in the memory of that car. Obviously, the base version of Beetle had no radio or even a seat belt for that matter. It had a 40 hp engine which was something of an improvement in the available automobiles and it could carry four people with two front-row seats and a single joined back row seat. This was just the first version that he was introducing into the market and it was very difficult to manufacture the design and the particular specs with the available industrial capacity. That was going to change as he was investing in creating more sophisticated machinery but it would take a long time for getting well-trained workers as well.

Either way, the Beetle A series has entered the market at the cost of 1200 rubles which was a price that can be afforded by even middle-class families with a little help from banks. Some dealership agencies have been opened around Moscow, Tsaritsyn and St. Petersburg. There were also plans for opening a shop in Vladivostok as well by the end of February. Since it was the new year the sales were undoubtedly going to skyrocket as he has been relentless in advertising the Beetle through newspapers and the radio across Russia.

While this was not much of a great news the real success came from his gene-splicing experiments. Although he had initially encountered success in combining the Asgardian DNA with Celestial DNA later studies had showed that decay rate of this combination was not to his requirements. This had led him to further experiments by enhancing the genetic code of Asgardians. Unfortunately, even enhancing the Asgardian genome has failed to achieve the results that he envisioned. This led him to a new path where he decided add one more genetic code into the mix. After much research and experimentation he managed to make a breakthrough.

His experiments were conducted with Asgardian, Celestial and Human DNA. It had taken him quite some time but finally he managed to combine the three species into one that generated a blood sample of triple celled platelet. Theoretically, it should be able to hold the vast ocean of power that was coursing through his own body. With the success of this experiment, he had immediately started creating a body using the hybrid genome that he developed. The body was still in its infancy and he was slowly transferring his essence into the body day by day. He had estimated this to be a time-consuming process as his full essence could only be transferred when the body reached its peak condition. With this project complete he will be essentially removing the primary weakness of his Celestial body.

**XXXXXX**

Victor Vasiliev was sitting in his office waiting for the election results. This was the second time that he was in the race for the seat of Chancellor and opinion polls were firmly in his favour. But there was a part of him that was a little troubled by the accusations made by his opposing candidate, Anton Kolisnyk.

Anton had accused him of betraying the trust of the Romanov line and usurped the powers of the royal family. In a sense, the man was right as Victor indeed had curtailed the power of royals and the different Duchies of the empire. But it was a necessary step to establish the powers of all democratic institutions besides he did have the tactical support of the Emperor before he made the move. The only move that affected the royal family directly was the new amendment that ensures the three fourth of the governors of States to be elected by the people rather than handpicked by the emperor. This still left a quarter of state governors to be chosen representatives of the crown. As for the Duchies he had curtailed much of the state-sponsored tax exemptions which were really aimed at decreasing the giant swathes of land holdings that were frankly holding back the industrial expansion of the Empire.

While he didn't fear he would lose bit he had some serious concerns about the senate. States like Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Romania have somewhat a romantic relationship with the royal family. Ever since Alexy I modified the marriage laws of the Romanov family the Empress of Russia has always been from these states or from the sub-states of what was once known as Ukraine. This left the people of these western portions of the Empire firmly in support of the Royal family. Most of royal princes and princesses had married into and settled in these sates and their contributions to the development of these states could not be easily neglected. Therefore by painting the Progressive party as an anti-monarchist party Anton hoped to swing the Western states in his favour.

Victor was sure that was not going to bring down his chances at a second term. His personal popularity is at an all-time high because of his foreign policy that reduced Great Britain to just Britain and the economic policies regarding patent laws, bringing down monopolies into competitive markets, a much more robust tax reform that had given a breathing space for the common man.

In foreign policy, he had managed to force France and Britain into the negotiating table with Germany. The resulting discussion has managed to force France out of the Rhur area and a non-military governorship were established under the officials taken from Russia and Switzerland for one year. A new commission was formed named Rhur oversight committee to investigate the actions of French and Belgian forces during their illegal occupation of the German lands. Victor also succeeded in fixing the current borders of the Republic of Germany in the League of Nations under the promise that the Russian Empire will not unilaterally withdraw from the spirit of the Versailles treaty.

Outside of kicking out France out of Germany and supporting the newly forming empires in India which had even brought down the British government from power there was another stellar success that Victor could boast about. He had managed to bring the USA and Japan into negotiations for a trade deal between the Russian Empire, the Empire of Japan and the USA. The meeting was planned to be held in Tokyo next year and it was something that would be beneficial to Russia. Many of his advisors had warned that such a thing was impossible but he had managed to build a good working relationship with the US government by streamlining strict patent laws between the two nations. He was also able to bring Japan on board for the Washington Naval Treaty in 1923 and that had alleviated some of the concerns of USA. Japan had also some serious concerns but after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 and the combined aid that USA and Russia were providing had created some political goodwill. It also helped that the democratic institutions of Japan had thoroughly undermined the more radical army with the aid of a moderate Navy. Prince Hirohito attracted by the stellar gains made by his civilian government had added his considerable influence to curb the army and instead began to promote the more moderate IJN as the poster boys of Japan.

Frankly speaking he was interested in forming a trade deal that would pull USA and Japan into a loose alliance with Russia and that would secure the Pacific from a British-France alliance. For this to happen he was willing to do anything necessary because he was informed by the OKB of what the British Military Intelligence wing was doing in Europe. The MI6 under the orders of the British government has facilitated a coup against the Republican government of Czechoslovakia with the aid of Communist party of Czechoslovakia and the fringe members from Communist Party of Germany(KPD). The real kicker was when the coup was led by Rosa Luxemburg who was thought to be long dead by the German government.

Victor knew the British decision to support the Communists in Czechoslovakia was to point a sword straight into Russia. With a Communist regime right next to the western borders of the Empire there was going to be lull in any help Russia could give to Germany. All land routes to central Europe will be thus closed off with a Communist regime in Czechoslovakia and a hostile Poland. It was a blow that could have been fatal to Russian interests in the region but the sea routes were still available. Even then he knew Czechoslovakia was going to be a real problem from now on and that was why even before the election results were declared he decided to call an all-party meeting to reach a consensus regarding Czechoslovakia. Thankfully there was one thing his party and the Peoples Party of Russia agreed upon and that was they both hate the Communists with a passion. Both parties are in full agreement that Russia would thrive under a Capitalist economy and that was all that was needed to be firmly against Communists and Communist ideals. State intervention in private business and industries was something both parties could never even think about. For this reason, Victor had managed to ensure the support of his opposition in the Senate to never recognise the Communist government of Czechoslovakia and permanently close the border for good measure. Many were of the opinion to declare war on the Communists and invade Czechoslovakia but reason had prevailed in smoothing out any hot tempers that were running hot.

In the end, Victor had to suck it up and let Communists right outside the doorsteps of Russia for the moment. His only consolation was he had managed to snatch large swathes of India from the British Empire and turned the newly formed political entity into a potential ally. He already had plans to take this newfound alliance to another level. But that was in the distant future after he assessed the new Saffron Empire that has took birth in the Indian Subcontinent.

His musings were cut short when one of his aides broke into his office in a hurry.

"Chancellor! The election results has just been announced!" the aide exclaimed as he struggled with excitement and lack of air

"The result…tell me who won!" Victor stood up from his seat eagerly as he had ordered all radios to be shut down in his office since he couldn't take the pressure in building up the suspense the anchors seems to enjoy. Since morning he has been in a self-imposed exile in his room from the outside world and this was the moment that would end it for good or bad.

"You won sir! You won with a sixty-eight percentage vote turn up. You won by a clear majority and thrashed Anton Kolisnyk." The aide said with a wide smile and that just made Victor's day. He promptly ordered champagne to be delivered to all his staff. This was a time for celebration and he had a second chance to lead Russia to greatness and lead he shall.

**London 1924**

Stanley Baldwin cursed the Russians and that demon, Chancellor Victor Vasiliev for the diminished state of British Empire and the subsequent fall of his government. It all started with the uprising in Goa that the Russians took advantage of and the locals smashed the Portuguese from the small piece of land. From there it was a series of disasters that began to chip away at the British power.

At first Baldwin like many other British prime ministers before him never believed that an armed uprising would ever come to succeed in India against the British. The colonial office was very good at playing the Indians against one another because of their diversity in language, religion and most importantly provinces. He should not have trusted the colonial office too much but seeing as the said office had turned Britain into a Great Power and had till now kept India under a tight leash he could be excused for trusting them. His confidence in the colonial office was not a blind one after all the office had managed to reduce what was the second-largest economy in the world after China into a pauper state after more than a two hundred years of British rule. That was a great achievement considering India was a substitute for the American colonies that they lost in the 18th century.

Anyhow, what started off as an uprising against the Portuguese quickly turned into an uprising against British rule in India. Rufus Isaacs the Governor-general of India had sent British forces to put down the rebels but that quickly turned into a slaughter. While many in the British government blamed the man for starting hostilities with a group of what was a rebellious group in Portuguese occupied Goa, his reasoning that the rebellion may spread into the Maratha speaking land was spot on.

With large number of Marathas joining the rebellion the colonial office had turned to its usual tricks and that was by playing off different kingdoms against each other. The first to join the coalition Britain was forming against the rebels was the Scindia dynasty of Gwalior. They were the successor state of the Maratha confederacy that was defeated in the Anglo-Maratha war in the 18th century and they had much to lose if this rebellion succeeded. The second party to be pulled into this coalition was the Nizam of Hyderabad who was very much happy with the status quo that left him to rule Hyderabad in peace with minimal British interference. Sadly for the colonial office the rebels fought a very different war than they had ever seen. Instead of fighting in open battle against the large armies that the coalition fielded the rebels struck directly at the head of the snakes so to speak. The entire Scindia family burned to death one day for reasons unknown and the Nizam along with his family died of snake bites. Not a single direct blood relations survived this incident and the highly superstitious Indians were spreading foolish claims like the use of _Nagastra(Celestial weapon of snakes) and Agneyastra(Celestial weapon of fire)._

Whatever the case may be the resulting chaos benefited the rebel leader Indrajith Rao and the guy just sort of took over the entire Maratha speaking land in the time of a few weeks. The tales of divine weapons and avatars were being spread around like wildfire and to add more oil into the mix the Sikhs began a rebellion of their own. The resulting wave attacks that took place from there on out shook off the tight leash British empire had on India.

The other small princely states of India decided to wait out the conflict and that sealed the deal for the British empire. The Russian aid to the rebels were also a cause of grave concern and against all odds Britain had to fight a two-front war in India. The Russians seeing the tide turning against the British decided to enter into negotiations with the Sikhs and by the start of 1923 the Sikhs began to get material support from Russians. The Sikhs established their base of power in Punjab and started expanding their territories further east. By the end of 1923, they established a revitalised Sikh empire all the way to Kashmir in the North and Karachi to the South-West with Lahore as the capital.

While this was happening the rebel leader Indrajith Rao established the Saffron Kingdom in the Maratha speaking land with Mumbai as its capital. The Saffron kingdom declared the British people as pirates and issued a warning to the Governor-general of British India to vacate all Indian land else to face total war. When the declaration was summarily rejected the new Saffron kingdom started rapid expansion to become an Empire in it's In right by conquest. One by one the princely states began to fall into their hands all the while the Russian trained armies of the Saffron Empire steadily made their way to Delhi.

The continuous defeats and setbacks of the British Empire in two fronts of the war began to make the Governor-general panic. This with his desperate plea was heard in Whitehall and negotiations began with the Congress party of India for transforming India into a Dominion rather than a colony. This was a promise that was given during the WW1 and Britain had turned their backs on the promise once the Great War was won. But now it was a political tactic to ensure British allies in the subcontinent stay true and fight the two empires. The Congress party which was formed for this very purpose was happy to accommodate the British capitulation although many opposed this move and ultimately split the party into two. In the end, it didn't matter because the Saffron empire took Delhi by starving it out and through assassinating the Governor-general and all British officials in higher ranks.

While the British army sort of crumbled under the war with the two Empires, only the RAF based on Risalpur Airbase proved to be effective in the first few months of the war. The base was close to the Sikh Empire and during the first months of the war, the base fielded its squadron against the Sikh empire. The Sikh empire had no Air force to speak of and was thus vulnerable to air attacks. But after months of continuous operations the base had to suspend all missions because they were cut off from all essential supply chains. It doesn't matter if Britain had fancy planes in its employ when said planes couldn't fly without a little something called fuel. When peace was declared between the British Empire and Sikh Empire the base neatly fell into the hands of the Sikh Empire. Although the crowning achievement of the Sikh Empire was the subsequent capture and execution of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer commonly known as the 'Butcher of Amritsar' after he was recalled to service because of the war in India. Dyer was hanged in Jallianwala Bagh's narrow passage, the same passage that was the only entry and exit point at the time of the massacre and the same route that General Dyer and his troops took to reach the grounds and massacred unarmed civilians.

There was brief lull in the war with Sikh Empire when the conservative government under Stanley Baldwin fell and gave rise to the first Labour government to take power. Even if the Labour government was a minority government under the leadership of Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald the government managed to bring the Russians into speaking terms with Britain again. The Labour foreign policy was applauded by even some Conservatives as the Labour government managed to keep the Russians from pulling away from the Versailles treaty and solved the rising tension in Central Europe in regards with Germany. In fact, the Labour government was so capable that they even pulled France, Germany and Poland close to Britain through many Diplomatic manoeuvres. The Labour government was also close to negotiating a peace treaty with the Sikh empire that would have left Britain a lot of land between Afghan and the Sikh Empire but the Conservatives pulled the plug before that could happen.

Again Baldwin took over the Prime Minister's office vowing to restore British 'honour'. At this point, not one British soldier in India gave a rat's ass about British honour as they just desired to go back home. The fact that the Saffron Empire was killing anyone of British origin by hanging because the British people are seen as pirates was a real blow to morale. The real kicker was that not even the bodies were returned to the British army as all dead bodies were promptly cremated and their ashes dissolved in rivers and seas. It was an indicator that the level of hatred of Indian people against the British was at an all-time high and any Indians that helped the British received the same treatment.

In January 1924 British flags were burnt to ashes in Delhi and the Saffron flag with a golden sun flew proudly from the Red fort. Delhi was taken after a long war that took 15000 lives in a single battle. British soldiers fought with great bravery but for the first time, Britain was fighting an Indian army that was of similar military capabilities because of Russian aid and the subsequent take over if all Industrial capacity of central India by the Saffron empire. The war in India was by no means over but the loss of Delhi did result in one thing and that was bringing down the Baldwin government for good. The only success the Baldwin government could claim of was the Communist uprising that they engineered in Czechoslovakia but that would prove to be a great mistake in the future.

For the second time, the Labour government came into power in Britain and Ramsay McDonald became Prime Minister once more. The office he inherited was once more at a more troubled time than ever and Britain was diplomatically isolated in Europe outside of France, Belgium and Portugal because of their ongoing tug war with the Russian empire. The task before him was great but as a genuine son of Britain who wanted his country to be respected because of its culture and resilience rather than its imperialistic hegemony over the world, he was committed to having peace rather than war with any nations of the world. This was why he decided to invite the newly elected Russian Chancellor to London and discuss freely on matters of great importance.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Finally, the writer's block on this story was magically removed. I had an entire different plot in mind but I discarded that and started over the path written above. Somehow that just clicked and my idea if sparking up Ego with Kree Empire is sort of on hold. Perhaps it is better if I introduced the Kree later in the 80s right? Now to give some review responses(because I am lazy to type it all down in separate PMs);**

**_Sevenvick_: Glad you liked the political plot in the story. When I started this story almost everyone was at my throat for butchering Avengers plotline. **

**_Kuse Endian: _Thank you for your support. As you said Russia had its own conflicts but because several 'forceful' demands I skipped over a lot of them. For example the dismantling of the Roman empire and the subsequent crusade against Catholics in Central Europe by Stephen's Church(Russian Orthodox Church). **

**_RockyGolem: _Russian Empire is no Mary Sue. When I was starting the story and introduced the formation of Russian Empire a lot of people just demanded that I skip all the boring changes that were happening and go straight to the Avengers plot. This constant PMs and reviews sort of derailed the plot I had in mind but for your information, the Russians are pretty badass in their sphere of influence. **

1\. **They only have two religions in Russia one is Christianity and Jewish religion(Tsargrad and state of Israel)**

2\. **Only Orthdox Christians are In Russia because the Russian Empire dismantled the Roman empire and the Catholics or any other sects were either forcefully changed or expelled from Russian territory.**

3\. **As for women gaining political office or a position if power is no alien thing in Russia. I have already gave a slight insight into why by mentioning the conquest of Alaska by Princess Ekaterina Romanov.**


	14. CH14: The secret Agent

**London 1924**

Ramsay McDonald observed the person that was sitting opposite to him with an accusing stare and threw the newspaper at the person's face.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ramsay exploded as he raged at Hugh Sinclair who was the chief of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

Hugh took the thrown newspaper and his eyes twitched at the photo that was posted on the front page of an MI6 agent that he personally knew who was drinking with Czechoslovakian communists most notably Rosa Luxembourg and Bohumil Jilek. The heading read; **British Secret Service agent in bed with Communist regime of Czechoslovakia!**

The article goes on about the communist coup that took down the republic government of Czechoslovakia with the direct aid of the Baldwin government. There were a well-detailed plot and the nature of help the British government provided for the Communist take over. The whole dirt was out in the paper and this was not just in the British newspapers but the story was circulating across Europe and the Americas.

"Is this true?" Ramsay asked the chief once more in a more subdued tone as the rage that had built up in the new British PM just fizzled out

"Yes sir. We had our orders to destabilize the Czechoslovakian government to deny the Russians any more allies in Central Europe from the previous government. We hoped the Communists would become a double-edged sword for both Germany and Russia." Admiral Hugh said after he schooled his face devoid of all emotions

"Baldwin really did a number on the British government this time. Instead of isolating the Russians you just ensured Britain will be isolated in Europe. Baldwin just stabbed his double-edged sword right through Britain's beating heart." Ramsay bemoaned as he slapped his face with his hand while SIS chief remained silent on the issue

"Who leaked this photo?" Ramsay asked as he finally looked up

"We are mostly sure that it is a Russian secret service agency that leaked the mission details. The fact that every single newspaper in Britain received all the photos and story through the post with the same fake address was the first indicator. We have also analysed the handwriting and we are sure that the style of writing and strokes point towards a Russian." Admiral Hugh reported with a straight face even as he was boiling on the inside at the fact that Russian secret service had known about the mission and that means the MI6 was compromised.

"Could it be possible that your agent here has turned?" Ramsay asked pointing at the agent in the photo

"His name is Sidney Reilly and he is a British born citizen. He is the best we have in the field, sir. It is possible that he has turned but not probable." Admiral Hugh reluctantly admitted

"His face is plastered all over the world to see! Clearly, he is not the best agent you have. If he is then I have reasons to worry about the security of this nation." Ramsay said as his eyes hardened

"We were just following orders, sir." Admiral Hugh said afraid that the PM was going to pin the whole blame on the MI6

"I know that Admiral Hugh. This is a political blunder that has blown up on our face and I know the fools who are responsible for this madness. Nonetheless, I want you to plug in the leaks of our Secret Service. This incident has proven that some of our agents and intel are compromised and I want you to do thorough background checks on all agents and even the daily sweepers if you have to. We are now humiliated before the world and something like this should never happen again. You may leave Admiral." Ramsay dismissed the MI6 chief and sat back in his chair with a sigh. There was going to be a political shit storm and he hoped he could steer Britain away safely. The only consolation is that the Conservatives are going to be forever discredited for consorting with Communists. Even some of the more outspoken and hard-core liberals in his own party keep a considerable distance from associating with Communists and now the Conservatives have committed political suicide. It was going to be an interesting month for sure.

At least there has been peace in India and he had the Russian Chancellor to thank for that. The fighting with the Sikh empire was complete and there was not a single British soldier left carrying a gun in Sikh controlled lands by the end of 1923. It was only because of Baldwin's stubbornness that a state of war continued with Sikh Empire after 1923 and the first thing he did when he came to power was to sign a peace treaty with the victorious Sikh Empire. All things considered, it was a straight forward treaty that required Britain to ransom all surviving British citizens from Sikh controlled lands. The RAF squadron in Risalpur was formally inducted into the new Sikh Royal Air Force(SRAF). Britain had to provide two more squadrons as part of the Anglo-Sikh peace treaty. That was not all, Britain had to transfer HMIS Elphinstone, HMIS Baluchi and HMIS Cornwallis to the new Sikh Royal Navy(SRN). Three more destroyers were also on the table to transfer to the SRN. The Sikhs have also not budged on any basing rights. As of this moment, Britain has lost every strip of land and ports on North-West India. The treaty didn't end there and the new empire had nationalised all industries and businesses of British citizens with not a single dime to be paid as reimbursement. Moreover, the Sikh empire had demanded reparations for years of British oppression but here British diplomats have managed to stall the Sikh empire in the form of a committee to study the possibilities of such a venture. In reality, no reparations were going to be given and it was just a game to stall and bury the entire thing after British citizens were safely returned to their home islands.

As for the war with Saffron Empire, it had died down but a little bit but momentum was on their side. As of right now, a state of uneasy peace existed between the two fighting forces. While British forces were dug in at Patna and Jamshedpur holding a defensive line that guarded British occupied Bengal and parts of Jharkhand. While Eastern India was safe for the moment the Saffron empire was steadily expanding into Southern India.

This was why Ramsay was ready to settle the Indian question and had welcomed the Russian Chancellor's request to include a representative of the Saffron Empire to discuss a broad treaty during the London visit. The Imperialists were up in arms about such a negotiation but seeing as the entire mess was their fault, no one was even willing to listen to the mad ravings of those mad pigs. Besides, the Russians have been very accommodating since his ascension to PM post. Russia has not opposed to the placing of Danzig under the auspices of the League of Nations with its external affairs largely under Polish control. This along with Western Prussian territories added to Poland ensured East Prussia would be separated from the rest. That was something the Russians agreed on as Prussian militarisation was one of the key problems that had to be tackled. The only condition the Russians added to the Versailles pact was for the Polish administered region to undergo a plebiscite exactly twenty years after the separation to determine whether the area would like to join the German republic.

Ramsay would have been suspicious of the sudden decision to support the splitting up of Prussia by the Russians but the rejection of Memel territory for the state of Lithuania and the demand for plebiscite confused many British diplomats. Many in Britain were wary of Russian influence and the possibility of East Prussia falling into the open jaws of the Russian empire and the rejection of Memel territory had allayed some of those fears. Now all that was left for him to do was wait and prepare for the arrival of two delegations.

**SAFFRON EMPIRE 1924**

Indrajith Rao formerly known as Ashwathama was pouring over the map of the holdings of his newly formed empire in his personal chambers. There was a lot of decisions to be made and meetings to be organized but most important of all he has to come to a decision regarding the expansion of Saffron Empire. He could go either West or South from Central India. Towards the North, the Sikh and Saffron Empire has come to an agreement of all territorial settlements. While Jammu and Ladakh regions fell into the hands of the Saffron empire the Sikhs took the entire Kashmir valley and everything west of Punjab. There were some disputed territories in Rajputana(Rajasthan) but that could be solved at a later date.

The longer he waits to make the decision in regards to expansion the stronger his enemies were becoming. He was already getting reports of British forces digging in with Machine guns along a defensive line around the Bengal region. With considerable Royal Navy forces present in Eastern parts of India the British forces were going to be well supplied and equipped to fight for every inch of land. There is also the fact that Britain can draw forces from other eastern colonies under their hold. Militarily he should be looking at Sothern India as his next step in expansion but Eastern India is more politically acceptable to his allies.

"You have been busy my friend." a voice suddenly spoke up startling him out of his thoughts and he whirled around only to come face to face with Ego.

"You startled me Ego. Where have you been all these years? I could have used a little bit of help." Indrajith said as he calmed down and allowed his friend to see the map that he was pouring over

"I have been busy in Europe. As a matter of fact, I came here to invite you on a little gathering that I am having next year. Don't worry it won't take much of your time and I will warn you in advance." Ego said as his eyes shifted from his friend to the map

"What sort of gathering is it?" Indrajith asked with a frown

"It's a small gathering of some special individuals. The meeting should be somewhat enlightening for you and it is to decide what the future of this world should be and the direction it is going to take. There are going to be a lot of influential people there and you can find more allies that can help you rebuild your country back to its former glory." Ego said and held back a smile as he saw his friend trying to work out what his intentions were and that's why he smartly changed the subject

"I see you have some serious decisions to make." Ego commented as his eyes traced the map that showed the strongholds of British forces as well as the Saffron empire

"Ah, yes! I am at a crossroads. I could regroup my armies and send the bulk of it to take out the British forces to the East or I could push to the South. Almost every one of my advisors is pointing to the East and take the Gangetic plane but it will be very costly with little gain." Indrajith said as he once again turned his attention back to the map

"Has your delegation gone to London for negotiations?" Ego asked never taking his eyes off from a particular spot at the very tip of Southern India

"Not yet. I am still picking a proper delegation to represent my interests, why?" Indrajith asked curiously

"Then I propose that you ask for Southern India from Britain and let them keep Bengal and the seven sisters." Ego advised

"But why? The Gangetic plain is an integral part of India and it cannot be allowed to fall into British invaders." Indrajith said

"That may be but your priority must be to stabilize the lands under your hold. For that you need resources and that resources are right here." Ego said as he touched the kingdom of Travancore(Thiruvananthapuram/Thiruvithancore)

"What is in that place? My advisors tell me that place has no industry to speak of. At least Madras and Mysore do indeed have some value but Travancore?" Indrajith asked incredulously

"Let me tell you a little secret. The kingdom of Travancore houses an ancient temple of God Vishnu. It is a family temple of the royal house of Travancore but within that temple lies the resources that you will need to rebuild this country over and over ten times if you so wish. Combine that with the mines and gold reserves that are being squirrelled away in different parts of Southern India you can rebuild entire India at an unprecedented speed." Ego advised and then turned to a highly sceptical Indrajith and sighed

"Trust me India has too many problems for you to solve and all of that is going to take a large number of resources. Consolidate your hold on what you can easily take and then rebuild what has been lost. This land was the recipient of centuries of invasions and British colonization has deepened the psychological impact of that especially in the North. The only way you can quickly heal the nation is by an economic boom that will engage the population in nation-building rather than in some extremist movements." Ego said and he created a portal using the sling ring. But before he left he had one final piece of advice to give.

"Before anything else find someone by the name of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He should be easy for you to find as he started a weekly publication named Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai. If that's not possible then ask for him in Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai. Listen to him before you make any commitments and you will see what I am talking about." Ego gave his final advice and left through the portal.

Indrajith went back to staring at the map where his friend had pointed out to him. Finally, he came to a decision and began summoning his aides. He was going to leave the Red Fort and back to Mumbai to track down this Ambedkar fellow.

**TSARGRAD(Constantinople) 1924**

Dimitri Ivanov(Ego) clapped along as the crowd around him cheered as the Governor of Tsargrad stepped on to the podium facing the crowd with a glass of champagne in his hand.

"I have to say that it is good to meet you all on this fine evening. If anyone doesn't recognize me I am the humble governor of this beautiful city and my name is Bernard Wright." The governor gave a brief now to the crowd eliciting a smatter of chuckles from the audience as the governor was a well-known person in the city

"A few blocks from here lies a building that reminds us every day of what happened when Emperor Alexy I of House Romanov on behalf of the Christian people joined hands with the Jews to do the impossible. The Emperor managed to crush the Ottoman invasion of Europe. For the help provided by the Jewish people, he ensured Jews were given a place in his Empire. Since then this city has stood witnessed to the fruits of that promise by showing the world that the strongest empire in the world was forged by Jews and Christians working together side by side. In this empire formed under the guiding hands of God, even the poor can become rich if he/she has the right vision and drive to push forward in life. Some of you may scoff at me for saying that seeing as I am painting the world in roses. But fortunately for me, I have you all at a disadvantage. I would like to introduce you to someone that came from the poorest background possible but has become the richest person in this entire city. Please welcome Dimitry Ivanov, the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Chimera Industries." Bernard finished his speech and Dimitri(Ego) walked up to the podium to a round of applause

"Thank you for that glowing introduction governor, Bernard. After such a stellar speech it wouldn't be remiss of me to say that I voted for governor Bernard in the last election and I would vote again if he plans for a second run for the office." Dimitri said and the crowd applauded and laughed and then he started over as his audience quieted down

"What the governor said about me is true. I don't know whether I am the richest person in this city but I do know that I was one of the poorest people in this city at a time. I had nothing to my name and I was an orphan my whole life. Fortunately, due to the generosity of quite a lot of people, I managed to complete my education. To not burden my sponsors I did small jobs around this city which actually made me realise what I wanted to do with my life. I joined the medical school so that I could save lives but my experience with working in this city changed that dream of mine into something else. I decided that I wanted to change the world and I knew the best way to do that was through technology. I think God has created many people to save lives but I knew I was born to preserve lives. I wanted to give us humans the best comforts in life and that could be done by the most powerful tool God has given me and that is my mind. My mind is filled with machines that are designed to reduce human effort and properly mankind to a bright future. It's my dream that man conquers the skies and even beyond. I hear my cars are providing you with great comfort and I am proud to say that my cars are the only automobiles on this planet that provide proper heating and air-conditioning. My cars have conquered your hearts but it is my hope that my planes will conquer your dreams. I am hereby officially declaring my new company, Chimera Aeronautics!" Dimitri said and thunderous applause came from the crowd as the room that was lit by candle lights only began to light up by electric bulbs presenting a brand new building that had white marbles for the floor and walls that had ornate designs

After much posturing and socialising with the crowd Dimitri finally escaped from the party. He climbed up the stairs to the upper floor and entered his personal office.

"You should have joined the party instead of sitting here by your lonesome." Dimitri commented as he poured two glasses of wine and handed one over to the man that was sitting on the couch under the cover of shadows. The man took the glass and switched on the table lamp by his side showing his face which was clean-shaven and had dark hair. It was the face of the man that had his somewhat attractive face pasted all over the newspapers of the world. At the moment a certain Intelligence agency would pay a million pounds to get a hold of this man.

"I hope you enjoyed the party, Mr Riley." Dimitri said as they clink the lasses together

"I am afraid I missed most of it as I was anxiously waiting for your decision." Sidney Riley said as he took a sip from his glass and hummed in appreciation of the taste

"Your work in Czechoslovakia was excellent." Dimitri complimented observing the former British agent keenly

"Thank you. So am I in or what?" Riley asked

"You are in Mr Riley. Welcome to the Illuminati."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Hope you all enjoyed it. I have shown a little peak into what is coming in this chapter. Sort of felt like giving away the suspense but I had to introduce the reason why Ego is going into all of this trouble. For one he is doing it for fun but he has a greater agenda which will be explained down the line. **

**I have a request to all fanfiction readers to not judge me or my country based on what I write in my stories. Each character in my stories are created for a specific reason and to push towards a specific plot I have in mind. It is in no way a reflection of myself or my countrymen/women. ALEX99999 seems to be of the opinion that if the author creates a particular character that does 'evil' things in a 'fictional' setting then the author is 'evil'. I don't get the logic behind that thinking and I am of the opinion just because J K Rowling wrote about the wizarding world didn't make her a witch. G R R Martin wrote ASOIAF and I don't see him as a psycho. That kind of thinking is bad and moronic in modern society. At least that's what I think. **

**Also to clear up the Russian territories that are in the Empire; **

**In the West, Russian territories include:**

**Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, some parts of Romania(all the way to present-day Istanbul which is named Tsargrad in this story), Israel(has special governance and they have a separate provincial government but has senate representatives in the Russian senate as well.)**

**In the East, Russian territories include:**

**Georgia and Azerbaijan.**

**Siberia has a special status as it is the place where OKB mines Vibranium. Only Siberian born citizens can claim land there. **

**Armenia is a free country created after the WW1 and is under the Russian sphere of influence. Other central Asian nations like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan etc are free nations and not under Russian rule. I am not concentrating on them and frankly, I have below-average knowledge about them to include them in any plots. **


	15. CH15: The meeting

**London 1925**

Ramsay McDonald observed the two men sitting opposite to him. It was like seeing two sides of the coin that was separate but somehow one and the same. He blamed the English upbringing that made him a tad uncomfortable to be in the same room with a man of coloured skin whose roots are in India or rather the Saffron empire. The recipient of his focus was the newly appointed Prime Minister of the Saffron Empire whose name was B R Ambedkar who was here in London on behalf of the newly crowned Emperor of the Saffron Empire.

It does not mean that Ramsay was a racist pig like most of his political opponents but he was unfortunately born in a nation that practised institutional racism. Ramsay knew that he was too hard on himself considering that he knew in his heart that he would be considered a bastion of saintly virtue in respecting and treatment of other races compared to other Westerners with the exception of maybe Russia.

That thought led him to focus on the second man in the room who was the Russian Chancellor. The Russians were an odd bunch that at first glance they would seem like an intolerant country to other religions and races but at the same time, they were very much tolerant but just to selective groups. For example, the Russians hate the Turks and anything they are associated with. That was why Russia had expelled anyone that refused to convert back to Christianity in the Russian empire after expelling the Ottomans and took over large swathes of European kingdoms. The same thing happened to Catholics who were expelled from the Russian Empire on the account of having more loyalty to the Pope rather than the Romanovs and for the Catholic campaign against the Angel Stephen. The Russians believed that it was an Angel that formed the Russian Kingdom and crowned Peter I. The Catholics spurred on by the Pope decided to never accept there was an angel by the name of Stephen which was a taboo in Russia. House Romanov's very existence hinged on the existence of Stephen as they were never a royal house or even a noble house. Besides the Russian Orthodox Church was formed under the guidance of Stephen. There was even a set of commandments written on the golden walls of the Church of Illumination, which was like the Vatican in Russia.

In Ramsay's eyes it was there the Russians declared a separate stance from the rest of Europe and said goodbye to Catholics as a whole. The resulting violence and oppressive policy of the Russian Empire saw to the exodus of Catholics and the development of a hard policy against any religious institutions that were antagonistic against the Russian culture, origins and beliefs. Till that moment the Orthodox church was very tolerant of other religions and Christian faiths but after this incident, the Church and the Royal family declared a one nation one religion policy. The only exception to this rule was the Jewish religion that claimed the Angel Stephen was turned to an angel by God after the soul of St Stephen graced the halls of Heaven. It was not an immediate process but gradually the Jews were accepted in Russian society by the hard work put from the Jews and several works of integration done by Romanov monarchs. In the end, the two religions even formed a strong bond that had baffled other Christian communities across the globe as Russia was the only place in the world where it was accepted for a Jew and Christian to marry without any blowback. In fact, there are no conversions to either religion in Russia as cross marrying between religions is a common enough occurrence and the bride and groom could raise their children in both religions with the blessing of both faiths. Frankly, Ramsay or any Christian couldn't get around how that worked but the success behind such a social integration had spurred many reformists in the Christian community across the globe. In Ramsay's eyes, this type of Social integration had made the Russians more open to other faiths and has considerably decreased extremist factions from taking hold politically. He also strongly believed these kinds of projects kept the Russians focused on concentrating on their own country rather than the usual European colonial expansion.

Even then the Russians have expanded their trade relations all over the globe and they were well-liked by most people especially the Indians. The Russian missionaries are treated as Saints in India as well as Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Congo, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Siam(which has stunningly remained the only independent Asian kingdom with very close ties to Russia) and Japan. Perhaps that was why the Russian Chancellor was very well-liked by the Indian PM and vice-versa. In fact, the MI6 has already reported that the Russian collaboration with the two empires that have divided India is slowly picking up to exchange of technology, education, immigration and even trade. He had some reasons to worry about the developing pan Russian alliance that was being sprung up one after the other in Asia and is slowly pushing into British and French sphere of influence. This was why the peace treaty was essential between the Saffron Empire and British Empire and their relation to normalise as quickly as possible.

The Anglo-Indian peace treaty has restructured the borders of British India which has Britain to pull out of South India in favour of maintaining their holdings in East India. In return for keeping East India Britain had to honour the 100 million pounds worth of Great War debt to be paid back to India within the next 15 years. All British enterprise will be taken over by the newly formed government in India and all British citizens will be allowed to return without any ransom. This was done on the condition that all transferred citizens will be banned from stepping a foot in Indian soil for the next thirty years after the signing of this treaty. Britain was allowed to hold an embassy in Mumbai provided that Britain promises not to engage in any espionage activities through the embassy. The final clause in the treaty was for Britain to return every idol of gods and goddesses that were stolen from India during the British rule.

Ramsay could already envision the amount of headache the treaty was going to cause but he signed it anyway. His only priority right now was to secure peace and decrease all military spending. He had managed to convince Minister Ambedkar into buying some of the Royal Navy ships for the BRN(Bharat Royal Navy). With the Washington Naval Treaty in effect laying off all these unwanted ships was a top priority especially when they can be sold off for a good price and use that money for the benefit of the common man. When the ink finally dried on the paper and the treaty was signed by the two parties with Russia as a witness. After that, it was picture time and he resigned himself for flashes of light and that ridiculous sound those contraptions made which made him really uncomfortable as the sound was akin to the breaking of glass.

Unfortunately for Ramsay McDonald, the historic picture painted a bleak picture of him as he twitched reflexively from the light and ended up with a comical look compared to the other two leaders who were more dignified in the picture.

**Boston 1925**

Joseph P Kennedy was a self-made man even though he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father was a businessman and a politician a combination that ensured a wealthy lifestyle. But his father was a man that had found his fortune by immigrating to America during the time of Irish famine and he always brought up Joe and his siblings without any entitlements. While his father occasional helped him he had to build everything up from scratch using his mind and hard work. No one could blame him for having more talent as a stockbroker and a keen investor. While many jealous prats with no real talent would spread rumours that he made his money through bootlegging he never paid any mind to such rumours. Just because he was from Boston doesn't mean that he was responsible for every crime happening there was with his knowledge and hand.

Right now he was back with his father sharing a bottle of wine. It was really weird for his father to do so especially when it was something that the two of them were doing without the rest of the family.

"I am told that you are making a fortune quickly. Your name is well known in some circles now." His father commented to that he just nodded lightly

"What is this about father? You are not one to call me for a private meeting like this all of a sudden!" Joe asked as he observed his father who sat up straight in his chair

"You are right. I asked you here to meet someone. It seems your talents have attracted 'them'." His father said seriously

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked with a foreboding feeling

"It means that the organization behind your father's success and your family's safe travel to the US is interested in you as well Joe." A voice from his back spoke startling him. Joe jumped out of his chair and whirled around to face a man who was in a black suit. The person had a youthful face with dark hair and stormy grey eyes. Joe was sure that the intruder was somewhat familiar but he couldn't put a name to the face.

"Who are you?" Joe asked

"My name is Dimitri Ivanov. I am here on behalf of an organization called Illuminati." Dimitri introduced himself as he walked around Joe and picked up a glass of wine that his father offered to the guy

"Dad, what is going on?" Joe turned his focus on his father

"What do you know about Illuminati Joe? You must have heard some things from your church about us. It is always fun to watch people make ridiculous tales about us." Dimitri sat back in a chair looking curiously at Joe

"I guess you are an occult group of Satanic worshippers or something..." Joe said still not adjusting to what was happening. He has a nasty reaction to surprises and today was turning out to be one of those days.

"Nice! You will be happy to know that we do not worship anything. The Illuminati was formed in Europe to combat religious nutcases that were holding back humanity from achieving the full potential it was meant to be. We are the pioneers of science that spread technology and new ideas to break the conservative societies around the globe. We do not care about race, nationality, creed, skin colour etc. What we care about is the advancement of mankind politically and technologically." Dimitri said to an increasingly perturbed Joe

"This is a joke right! If it is, this is the worst one I have ever heard of." Joe said to his father who was staring back at him very seriously

"Your father is a member of our society. It is not just him, there have been several members that worked in our organisation. You may be familiar with some of them like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Rice Pereira and many others! There has been well-known members and some obscure ones that prefer to remain in the shadows like your father." Dimitri explained and took a sip of the wine observing Joe's reaction

"What do you want with me?" Joe finally asked when he saw that his father was not refuting the claims made by Dimitri

"I came here to invite you for a meeting that our organization is holding in Russia this November. I will inform you of the details later. Just attend the meeting and then you can decide whatever it is that you want to do." With that said Dimitri stood up from his seat and was about to leave but he paused by the door

"I know you have something of a great time here in the states but keep in mind that opportunities like this will come only once in a lifetime. The world that you know is very small Joe and you can be sure that your horizons will expand if you attend the meeting." Dimitri nodded at Joe and his father one last time and left the house leaving a silent father and son duo.

**Russia 1925**

Khristina Verenich was the youngest and only women in Europe to be holding the highest position in a political office. In the first term of Progressive party she took on the role as the majority leader but now in the second term, she has become the Secretary of Defense. It was practically unheard of for a woman to hold such a high position in government even if there was historical precedence of women occupying high offices. The Romanov Princesses usually played the role of Finance ministers in the old regimes. In her case, she was fortunate enough to have some talent in politics and it didn't hurt to have the support of a powerful organization. That's why she along with her daughter Anastasia was in Petrominsk invited by Dimitri Ivanov who was the new leader of Illuminati. She has always wondered how the leadership of Illuminati is selected but whoever it is doing this they have done a stellar job so far. As far as she knew only members of the Illuminati knew about the secret society and most of them have no idea who the other members are.

"Mama, are you sure you don't want any guards with you?" Anastasia asked as they walked through the garden of a beach house

"I thought you were acquainted with Dimitri in your line of work." Khristina asked

"I am a stockbroker Mama. Of course, I am going to be acquainted with the guy. It's just that he is someone that is very hard to get a read on."

"I will take that as a compliment." A voice butted in from behind making the mother and daughter startle in surprise. They calmed down when they saw that it was Dimitri and after exchanging pleasantries they followed Dimitri to a boat.

"Where are we going?" Anastasia asked as she and her mother boarded the boat

"To the future!" Dimitri said which made Anastasia roll her eyes

"Is this meeting really necessary especially considering that you have allowed non-members to attend?" Khristina asked as she tightened her grip on a steel bar to not wobble as the boat moved

"Only potential members that I know for sure will join the Illuminati is invited." Dimitri said with a confidence that Anastasia found baffling. This was why dealing with Dimitri has always felt like she was dealing with a superior otherworldly being that was merely entertaining you.

The rest of the boat ride was spent in silence until finally, Khristina began to see something on the horizon.

"Is that a submarine?" Khristina asked as she tried to get a better look at the vessel partially viable in the White sea

"Something like that." Dimitri smirked

Soon they closed in on the silver-coloured vessel which had a ramp that led to a wide opened space immersed in darkness. Dimitri was the first to jump into the ramp and he assisted the mother-daughter duo to land safely into the ramp.

"Please follow me."

Dimitri led them inside the ship and soon the ramp closed up and the space that they entered was shut down by a metallic door. Lights quickly lit up the bridge and the long hallway quickly became visible. While the two women were fascinated and in awe of the intricate patterns that were carved on the walls that were emitting light Dimitri typed a command code on the panel. To the two women that looked like a fancy display of colourful lights. But they realised that it was something else when a portion of the cooling sort of collapsed and that piece of metal hovered on the ground.

"Step in please." Dimitri guided the two women onto the hovering platform. This was a surreal experience for the two women but they did as Dimitri asked and the platform slowly rose up.

The three of them later found themselves in a vast room with a U-shaped table. There were a lot of seats near the table and most of them remained unfilled. Still, the few that were there attracted Khristina's attention. She recognized several bankers most prominently Jean-Marie Musy the president of Swiss Bank Corporation.

"Thank you all for accepting this invitation. If you all don't mind please take a seat and we can start this meeting." Dimitri said as he took a seat facing the U-shaped table.

After he saw everyone has taken their seats he took a datapad into his hand and activated a command protocol. The ship's systems came online and the conference room filled with projected displays of the ship and the live status of its systems. This startled everyone except Dimitri who was still typing some command codes into the datapad. Those who were observing saw the strange model of the ship fluctuate briefly and they saw energy readings close to the live image.

"Poseidon, activate ascension protocol." Dimitri commanded and the ship activated its thrusters. With a hum, the engines began to exert more energy into the thrusters and the ship began to rise from the sea. He was especially proud of this ship as it was the same design as that of the ship he investigated from the Dark-Elves. The only difference was this ship is made out of Vibranium and all the controls, internal design, specifications as well as the defensive mechanisms are a whole lot different than that of a Dark-Elves ship.

_"Initiating launching sequence and stealth mode." Poseidon spoke_

Everyone except Dimitri was afraid as the ship shook but that problem was quickly solved when the seats suddenly developed binders that secured them to the seats. As the engines came to full power it propelled the ship faster upwards and everyone could see through the glass panes that there was a lot of distance from the sea and the ship.

"Is this an aircraft?" Joseph Kennedy asked in awe as he struggled to understand how this large contraption was flying. He had seen aeroplanes and they were not this efficient and futuristic

"This is not just an aeroplane Mr Kennedy. This vessel is capable of travelling underwater, air and on space. Observe!" Dimitri pointed at the glass panes behind his back and sure enough, they could see clouds floating around blocking the view of the ground. Soon even the clouds were in the distance and they all found themselves in space and they could see the Earth in its full beauty. The blue ball was very majestic to look at and many of them were quite overwhelmed by the divine view of the planet.

"As you can see our planet is very beautiful to look at from far away. If any of you still have doubts then let me assure you that we are far away from the earth's gravitational pull. We are in the vacuum of space and the only reason that we are still alive is because of technology." Dimitri said as he removed the bindings and stood up from his seat facing his captivated audience

"Contrary to popular belief Illuminati actually took birth in Russia towards the end of the 13th century. It was a social group that helped people in a war-torn land economically and through several social schemes. In the early days, this organization helped people to acquire skills that would let them contribute to society. By working closely with many people the leaders of this organization came to realise that the human race is capable of making impossibilities a reality. Thus the Illuminati spread into other nations seeking out scientists, philosophers, artists, musicians. Along the way, there were many that tried to suppress new ideas and thoughts. Mostly they were religious institutions and monarchies but we remained in the shadows exploring the human potential and what you see around you is the culmination of that effort." Dimitri delivered his glowing speech and he could see that he has captivated the audience

"If the Illuminati is powerful and has wide reaches across the world then why do you need us?" Joe Kennedy asked who had managed to take his eyes off the beautiful view of the earth and focus on Dimitri

"I am glad you asked. This organization has a plan to create an international government that unifies all of the Human race under a single democratic system. We are hoping to achieve this before the 1970s and the League of Nations is the first step. In fact, we are the reason the League even formed in the first place. Soon we will push the League to evolve into a better entity that will be capable of addressing the real issues that plague the Human race and our planet. Our goal will be to set the stage for the world to transition into such a modern age where national boundaries will be broken and start the exploration age." Dimitri said as he pointed to the inky blackness of space

"So if you are interested in making History now is the time that our newest members give the answer. Would you like to be part of the Future and leave an everlasting legacy?" Dimitri smirked as he could see that they were all hooked

**AN:**

**So how's that for a chapter? I wanted to expand more on other members of the Illuminati but it would have been boring to introduce each one of them out of the blue and spill all the secrets like a tidal wave. I will rather introduce them in the certain roles that they play in the coming years as they execute the grand plan devised by Ego. **

**Also, I will be adding little snippets here and there that will be filling in the development of Illuminati in the 18th and 19th centuries. This is done mostly to fill in the gaps that I left in the timeline like the French revolution, the American war of Independence, Napoleonic wars in Europe, the victory of Kingdom of Siam over French colonial dreams etc. I am working out an Ottoman empire angle and how they were forced to expand further into Asia rather than Europe except for their significant role in bringing down the Roman empire. I would really appreciate any help you guys can provide especially by mentioning some major events in 1925-1933. I won't be opposed to any ideas that you can come up with and I will try my best to incorporate it into the story.**


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